White House summit: AMLO promises $1.5-billion investment in border infrastructure

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July 13, 2022

Presidents Lopez Obrador, Joe Biden meeting at White House — Both leaders said after meeting on Tuesday that they're “committed like never before" to modernizing infrastructure on the Mexico-U.S. border. Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter

Mexico will invest US $1.5 billion on border infrastructure between 2022 and 2024, according to a joint statement by President López Obrador and United States President Joe Biden.

According to a joint statement issued after the two leaders met Tuesday in the White House, the two countries are “committed like never before to completing a multi-year joint U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure modernization effort for projects along the 2,000-mile border.”

The joint effort “seeks to align priorities, unite border communities and make the flow of commerce and people more secure and efficient,” the statement said, noting that the U.S. will invest $3.4 billion in 26 projects at its northern and southern borders.

“Mexico has committed to invest $1.5 billion on border infrastructure between 2022 and 2024,” López Obrador and Biden said.

US Vice president Harris and Mexican President Lopez Obrador — AMLO was greeted at the White House by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. White House/ Twitter

According to an unnamed New York Times source, the money will be used to improve technology that can detect contraband, while the Associated Press said the resources will be used to improve “smart” border technology.

A White House source told NBC News that the Mexican government’s $1.5 billion will go toward a range of new construction projects along its northern border to strengthen the United States’ ability to screen and process migrants. The U.S. official said the exact details of the projects are still being worked out but added the money won’t go to the construction of any kind of border wall or barrier. The aim of the projects will be to improve the speed and security of border screening rather than to deter migrants from crossing into the U.S., the source said.

White House assistant press secretary Abdullah Hasan credited Biden for Mexico’s commitment to invest in border infrastructure.

“[Former U.S. president Donald] Trump in his four years couldn’t finish a border wall, let alone get Mexico to pay for it. President Biden just got Mexico to agree to paying $1.5 billion to improve border processing and security through smart, proven border management solutions,” he tweeted.

In their joint statement, López Obrador and Biden also reaffirmed their commitment to the full implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, saying that the Mexican and U.S. governments would “make our supply chains more resilient and expand production in North America” through “active coordination of our economic policies.”

They committed to “jointly combat inflation by accelerating the facilitation of bilateral trade and reducing trade costs” and announced that Mexico will purchase up to 20,000 tons of milk powder from the United States to assist Mexican families in rural and urban communities as well as up to 1 million tonnes of fertilizer for subsistence farmers.

Among other commitments, Mexico and the United States pledged to work together to address climate change and security issues, including the challenges of fentanyl, arms trafficking, and human smuggling, and to reduce levels of drug abuse and addiction.

Migrants crossing the Mexico-US border — A White House source reportedly said Mexico and the U.S. aim to improve the speed and security of border screening rather than deter migrants from crossing into the U.S. File photo

The two countries also reaffirmed their commitment “to launch a bilateral working group on labor migration pathways and worker protections.”

“… The tragic deaths of migrants at the hands of human smugglers in San Antonio further strengthens our determination to go after the multi-billion-dollar criminal smuggling industry preying on migrants and increase our efforts to address the root causes of migration,” López Obrador and Biden added.

During lengthy remarks in the Oval Office, AMLO spoke about the Bracero Program, under which large numbers of Mexicans worked legally on farms in the U.S. in the middle of the 20th century. “Today, we’re proposing something similar to this program,” he said.

Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández said last month that a formal announcement about a temporary work scheme for 150,000 Mexicans and migrants in Mexico would be made during the president’s visit to Washington, but no such announcement happened.

Martha Bárcena, Mexico’s former ambassador in the United States, said that political conditions in the U.S. made it difficult to get the U.S. government to agree to migration reform. “It’s not that President Biden or the Democrat administration don’t have the political will,” she said.

In an approximately 30-minute response to Biden’s comparatively succinct opening remarks, López Obrador noted that a lot of United States residents have been coming into Mexico to buy gasoline, which is subsidized by the Mexican government.

“We decided that it was necessary … to allow Americans who live close to the border … to get their gasoline on the Mexican side at lower prices,” he said.

“And right now, a lot of the drivers — a lot of the Americans — are going to Mexico … to get their gasoline. However, we could increase our inventories immediately. We are committed to guaranteeing twice as much supply of fuel. That would be considerable support [for U.S. motorists],” López Obrador said. “Right now, a gallon of regular costs $4.78 on average on this side of the border. And in our territory, $3.12.”

Fertilizer bags on Mexico farm — AMLO also committed to buying 1 million tonnes of fertilizer from the U.S. to give to Mexican subsistence farmers. Ministry of Agriculture

López Obrador also advocated working toward the elimination of more tariffs and allowing workers, technicians, and professionals of different disciplines to work in the United States. “I’m talking about Mexicans and Central Americans,” he said, adding that they should be given temporary work visas, which in turn would ensure that the U.S. economy doesn’t stall due to the lack of labor.

“It is indispensable for us to regularize and give certainty to migrants that have for years lived and worked in a very honest manner, and who are also contributing to the development of this great nation,” López Obrador told Biden.

“I know that your adversaries – the conservatives – are going to be screaming all over the place, even to heaven. They’re going to be yelling at heaven. But without a daring, bold program of development and well-being, it will not be possible to solve problems. It will not be possible to get the people’s support.”

AMLO – who didn’t attend last month’s Summit of the Americas because Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua weren’t invited – said in late June that he would raise the case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his meeting with Biden, but the Mexican president didn’t mention the 51-year-old Australian during his public remarks. The United Kingdom has approved the extradition of Assange to the United States, where he faces espionage charges, but lawyers are challenging the decision.

In response to López Obrador’s comments – which delved deeply into the history of Mexico-U.S. relations – Biden said he agreed with the “thrust” of what his counterpart said and concurred that “we need to work closely together.”

In his opening remarks, the U.S. president said his government sees Mexico as an “equal partner.”

“… For me and my administration, the U.S.-Mexico relationship is vital to achieving our goals of everything from the fight against COVID-19, to continuing to grow our economies, to strengthening our partnerships and addressing migration as a shared hemispheric challenge,” Biden said.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s pending extradition to the U.S. was not mentioned in public remarks, although AMLO had said he would bring up the case with Biden. Chancellor of Ecuador

Although there was no announcement about a new temporary work scheme, the U.S. president highlighted that his administration has already granted visas to a large number of Mexicans and Central Americans.

“My administration is leading the way to creating work opportunities through legal pathways. And last year, my administration set a record. We issued more than 300,000 … [temporary agricultural] visas for Mexican workers,” Biden said.

“We also reached a five-year high in the visas we issued to Central Americans, and we’re on pace to double … [that] this fiscal year,” he added.

With reports from El Universal and Reforma

16th-century building to reopen as cultural center in Metztitlán, Hidalgo

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Lydia Carey

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July 13, 2022

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After being closed to the public for several centuries a building called La Tercena de Metztitlán will reopen as a cultural center in Hidalgo. The Tercena is one of the few buildings from the 16th century that still exist in Mexico and consists of a combination of indigenous and European elements in its construction.

Original murals were found inside the building in the 1970s, but the structure had fallen into disrepair due to lack of attention, seismic activity and vandalism.

Believed to have been a storage building used by the Catholic Church to collected tithes and by the colonial powers to collect tributes, La Tercena opened to the public on Monday to host a local crafts fair. Local promoter Enrique Cruz Verde, the owner of the Galería Bruno in Tula, says the plan is to keep using the building as a cultural center that can be used to host events such as Monday’s.

“We have invited artists from Tula through Galería Bruno, to promote community, diffusion, and sale of the work of participants, and I think it’s a good moment and the right space to continue this artistic and cultural work,” said Cruz.

Cruz lamented what he says is a lack of interest on the part of Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) in preserving the local landmark.

“The INAH should get more involved, they have forgotten this building for a long time, they have only intervened twice and this is how it was left … so I think it’s up to us citizens to show how valuable it is,” said Cruz.

With reports from AM Hidalgo and La Jornada

Reviled on one side and respected on the other, ex-president Echeverría dies at 100

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MND Staff

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July 12, 2022

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ex-President Luis Echeverria Alvarez — Former president Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1970–1976) ruled Mexico during a period of repression of civil rights by government forces known as the country's “dirty war.”

Luis Echeverría Álvarez, a controversial and widely-despised president (1970–1976) who ruled Mexico during the country’s “dirty war,” died Friday at the age of 100.

The former Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) president passed away at his home in Cuernavaca, Morelos. The cause of death hasn’t been disclosed, but Echeverría was hospitalized for pulmonary problems in 2018.

President López Obrador confirmed the passing of the ex-president in a social media post on Saturday morning.

“In the name of the government of Mexico, I send respectful condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Luis Echeverría Álvarez, president of Mexico during the six-year period from 1970 to 1976,” he wrote.

President Luis Echeverria addresses US Congress 1972 — Echeverría styled himself as a leader of the third world. Here he is seen addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress in 1972.

The PRI, which ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century, also passed on its condolences to the family and friends of Echeverría, who turned 100 in January and thus became the first Mexican president to reach triple figures.

Born in Mexico City on January 17, 1922, Echeverría studied law at university and started working for the PRI in 1946. He was a deputy interior minister by the late 1950s and became interior minister at the tail end of Adolfo López Mateos’ 1958-64 presidency.

Echeverría stayed on as interior minister when Gustavo Díaz Ordaz assumed the presidency in late 1964 and remained in the position until November 1969. His position in the Díaz government – interior minister is generally considered Mexico’s second highest office – implicated him in the 1968 massacre of students in the Mexico City neighborhood of Tlatelolco, perpetrated by the armed forces just 10 days before the start of the Summer Olympics in the Mexican capital.

The massacre, in which an estimated 350 to 400 students were killed, is considered part of the Mexican Dirty War, an internal conflict from the 1960s to the 1980s in which successive PRI governments violently repressed left-wing student and guerrilla groups.

Tlatelolco massacre of 1968 Mexico City — As interior minister at the time, Echeverria is considered to be one of the major players behind the infamous 1968 Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City, in which soldiers beat and killed an estimated 350–400 student demonstrators.

State-sponsored violence continued with Echeverría at the helm of the federal government, most notably with the 1971 Corpus Christi massacre in Mexico City, briefly depicted in the award-winning 2018 film Roma. An estimated 100 to 200 students, some in their early teens, were killed in the massacre known as El Halconazo, or the Hawk Strike, because it was perpetrated by a government-trained paramilitary group called Los Halcones.

Echeverría attempted to distance himself from the violence and enforced disappearances that marked both Díaz’s government and his own, but he was unable to escape the attention of a special prosecutor’s office established during the 2000–2006 Vicente Fox presidency to investigate violence perpetrated by the state in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.

The ex-president was summoned to give evidence in 2002, formally accused of genocide and a warrant for his arrest was issued. But Echeverría obtained an injunction against the arrest order and was never taken into custody. He did, however, spend a period under house arrest before being cleared of genocide charges related to the Tlatelolco massacre in 2009.

A group dedicated to holding the perpetrators of the Tlatelolco and El Halconazo massacres to account asserted in a statement that Echeverría was not in fact exonerated.

Comite 68 demonstration — Comité 68, a group of former student leaders and others dedicated to bringing those responsible for the Tlatelolco massacres to justice, called for investigation into Echeverría’s role in the 1968 killings to be resumed.

“He died accused of the crime of genocide,” said the Comité 68 Pro Libertades Democráticas, which denounced the federal Attorney General’s Office for “inaction” in relation to the ex-president’s case.

The committee – which is made up of former student leaders – said the death of Echeverría didn’t spell the end of the investigation into crimes committed by the state when he was in government and demanded “the continuation of judicial processes.”

“The list of perpetrators is known by everyone but they continue enjoying impunity and the protection of official political power,” it said.

“We demand a reform to the legal system so that no crime of the state against the people goes unpunished. … We insist on full access to justice, compensation and a guarantee that” state-sponsored crimes won’t happen again, Comité 68 said.

ex president of Mexico Luis Echeverria Alvarez — In 2002, Echeverría accused of genocide and ordered to appear at hearings by former president Vicente Fox’s government. He obtained an injunction and never appeared.

The committee also demanded that Echeverría’s “considerable” assets be sold and that their proceeds go to compensating victims. “We don’t forget, we don’t forgive and we don’t reconcile,” the group said.

One political figure who had some kind words for the former president was Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, an 88-year-old former deputy, senator, federal cabinet minister and ambassador to the European Union.

Muñoz, who was labor minister and subsequently PRI national president during Echeverría’s government, told the newspaper Milenio that the former leader had an impressive capacity for work. He also said that the fact he reached the age of 100 was a testament to his “extraordinary physical strength.”

“I got to know him very closely, I appreciated some of his values,” Muñoz said before expressing regret that “not everything was rosy in his government.”

Mexican politician Porfirio Munoz Ledo — Former politician Porfirio Muñoz Ledo praised Echeverría’s political imagination and his “*mexicanismo.*“

On Twitter, Muñoz said that Echeverría closed a period of Mexican history called “revolutionary nationalism” and opened the country’s doors to globalization. “His political imagination [and] his mexicanismo stand out,” he added.

Although Echeverría will mostly be remembered for the state-sponsored crimes committed during his administration, Milenio mentioned some of his achievements, including average economic growth of 6.1% during his six years in office, the development of two Pacific coast ports and the creation of the National Workers Housing Fund and the Mexican Institute of Foreign Trade.

In addition, the former president increased spending on infrastructure, created dozens of public trusts and state-owned companies, expanded agricultural and fishing subsidies and provided additional support for the nation’s poor. Echeverría also styled himself as a leader of the third world, championing the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1974.

After leaving office in 1976, the former president served as Mexico’s ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as well as ambassador to Australia.

Former president of Mexico Luis Echeverria Alvarez — Some of Echeverría’s achievements as president included infrastructure spending, the creation of public trusts and state-owned companies and support to the poor.

Echeverría is survived by five of the eight children he had with María Esther Zuno Arce, daughter of a 1920s governor of Jalisco. Zuno passed away in 1999.

With reports from Milenio, Aristegui Noticias, Expansión Política and Publimetro

Puerto Vallarta is almost full and it’s not even vacation time yet

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MND Staff

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July 12, 2022

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A beach near Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. deposit photos

The summer vacation period hasn’t officially started but tourists are already flocking to Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast.

In fact, the destination is almost full, the director of the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Trust said in an interview with CPS Noticias.

Luis Villaseñor Nolasco noted that hotel occupancy has reached 90% on recent weekends and observed that over 1,000 flights are scheduled to touch down in the city during the first half of July. He said that tourism is expected to be up 10% compared to the same period of 2021.

Domestic and international tourists are contributing to the high demand for flights and tourism services in Puerto Vallarta.

“The connectivity with the United States has been maintained,” Villaseñor said, adding that Puerto Vallarta is also well connected to cities in northern and central Mexico, including the capital.

“We’re now connected to the three airports in the metropolitan area,” he said, referring to the Mexico City, Felipe Ángeles and Toluca airports.

The airline Aeromar is now offering up to five flights per day from Guadalajara, giving tapatíos, as residents of the state capital are known, another option to get to Jalisco’s premier beach destination.

“The expectation is … to exceed the 72% [hotel occupancy] we had [in July] last year. We expect to achieve it because we have the conditions [to do so],” Villaseñor said.

The tourism official said that road links also play an important role in getting tourists to Puerto Vallarta. “Many of the regional [tourism] wholesalers and bus lines increase operations [at this time of year]. … A lot of students start vacations this Friday and that will contribute to a good end to the month,” he said.

With reports from Tribuna de la Bahía

Beware of falling glass: Puebla’s Sky Bridge takes a beating during storm

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MND Staff

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July 12, 2022

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Large pieces of glass detached from a 61-meter-high skybridge in Puebla during strong winds and rain Monday afternoon, but no one was injured by the plummeting panes.

Videos show sections of Sky Bridge Popocatépetl falling as the structure swings wildly in the wind. Some of the glass landed in a parking lot below the bridge, which connects two Wyndham Hotel buildings in Angelópolis, a district that is part of the metropolitan area of Puebla city. At least one pane landed near the entrance to one of the hotel buildings.

In one video posted to social media, a woman questions what would happen if a pane of glass landed on someone’s head. “Madre mía,” she exclaimed. “It’s clear that when they built it they didn’t think about wind.”

After witnesses alerted authorities to the damage, emergency services personnel climbed onto the skybridge and removed other loose material that could have detached and potentially caused a fatal accident.

Puente colgante de cristal en Puebla. 11/07/22 @lopezdoriga pic.twitter.com/PCpS59N7ue

— IGNACIO G TERUEL (@IGNACIOTER) July 12, 2022

The structure, which opened last December, is the largest glass-bottomed suspension bridge in Latin America. The 300-million-peso (US $14.4 million) bridge is 148 meters long, 1.4 meters wide and weighs 15 tonnes.

With reports from El Sol de Puebla and Corazón de Puebla

San Marcos, Sinaloa: A town caught between too much water and too little

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Rose Egelhoff and Eduardo Esparza

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July 12, 2022

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resident of San Marcos, SInaloa — San Marcos resident Jaime returns from checking his fields in the hills. He and his wife, Yoya, are one of few families left in San Marcos.

Would my family be better off somewhere else? Will things ever get better? If everyone else leaves, will we be safe here alone? Those are a few of the crushing questions that many internally displaced Mexican families have faced, often due to violence stemming from clashes between criminal groups.

But violence isn’t the only reason families lose their homes. Infrastructure projects like roads, trains and dams can also force unwilling communities to relocate. That’s what happened in the town of San Marcos, Sinaloa, after a dam project for Mazatlán transformed both the town and the lives of its residents.

In San Marcos, the Picachos dam turned a close-knit rural community into a shell of its former self. The town, unexpectedly, never fully flooded when the Picachos reservoir was created, and several families remain. More live nearby in the government-built town of Nuevo San Marcos, but much has been lost: some lost hard-earned financial stability. Many lost community ties, and some people lost their lives.

In the early 2000s, the city of Mazatlán was running out of water. The Presidio river, east of the city, held the obvious answer to the problem, and the state made plans to build the Picachos dam. Construction started in 2006 and, with it, pressure to remove or relocate 800 families in six communities who lived within the projected 3,000-hectare area of the reservoir.

Pictures of San Marcos, Sinaloa before and after flooding — Jaime shows photos of the town’s central plaza before and after the pavilion was relocated to Nuevo San Marcos, Sinaloa.

In 2009, several dozen residents occupied the dam, trying to delay the project’s completion and the subsequent flooding of their communities. But in July of that year, as the rainy season approached, more than 100 state and federal police kicked out the protesters, armed with clubs, riot shields and tear gas. In short order, the dam was completed and the water began to rise.

When the water reached San Marcos, five other communities were already underwater. It flooded the San Marcos cemetery first, and then it was lapping at the doors of the more low-lying homes, the church and a school. Residents took what they could and left.

The state government had begun to build Nuevo San Marcos nearby, but the houses were still under construction, and there were no schools, hospitals or roads between the new town and the areas where many locals worked. So residents found shelter where they could.

Some went to Nuevo San Marcos, using their own resources when necessary to make the small, incomplete houses fit for living. Some moved in with relatives in the city of Mazatlán, an hour away. Others moved further away. A group calling themselves Los Picachos organized to demand better compensation.

San Marcos, Sinaloa town limits — A new sign outside the tourist town of La Noria shows the way to nearby attractions, including San Marcos.

Over time, it became clear that the government’s prediction for the reservoir area wasn’t exactly accurate: homes on higher ground had been spared the flooding. But by then, their owners had already taken everything they could with them, then returned to take doors, windows, roof tiles and anything else that had value.

San Marcos’ former residents had new jobs and responsibilities now, and their children were in new schools. But six families did eventually return to live full-time in what was left of the town, and several more families come and go.

Former residents of San Marcos continued to advocate for years for better compensation, with a measure of success. Then the movement suffered a blow when one of its leaders, Atilano Román Tirado, was assassinated during his live radio show, “This is My Land,” on which he shared news and opinions related to the push for fair compensation.

Today, the dam provides much-needed water for the city of Mazatlán, and there have been efforts to promote the reservoir as a tourist destination. It hasn’t attracted crowds yet. Rather, the reservoir is a quiet place. Below the high-water mark, cattle graze among the trunks of drowned trees. Locals and the occasional tourist fish in pangas. On summer afternoons, families come to swim.

[wpgmza id=”364″]

In the town of San Marcos, the remaining families live their lives among empty houses. They take care of their livestock and maintain the church as best they can. In 2015, they were the subject of an award-winning documentary. Enough people still live nearby to support a tortillería, the last standing business in town.

With about nearly half the country in drought as of the end of June, Mexico is thirsty, and more dams will continue to be built for water storage. Seventy kilometers to the southeast of Picachos reservoir, another dam in the municipality of Rosario is under construction, scheduled to be finished in 2023.

But this time, the state government has been more proactive: the 58 families whose homes fall within the projected area of the reservoir have already received their replacement houses. In May, the state governor personally inaugurated the rebuilt town and welcomed the displaced families to their new homes.

Rose Egelhoff is an associate editor at Mexico News Daily and a freelance writer. She’s on Twitter and the internet. Eduardo Esparza is a professor, filmmaker and professional photographer. Some of his work can be seen on Instagram.

residents of San Marcos Sinaloa — Paulita and Pani live across the street from their *tortillería*. Paulita said she misses seeing her neighbors line up outside in the morning.

flooded town of San Marcos, Sinaloa — Pani and Paulita’s tortillería is the last remaining business in town. Established 50 years ago, it still opens every day until 2 p.m.

house in drowned town San Marcos, Sinaloa — The high water mark can be clearly seen on the remains of what was once a large house. By the rainy season’s end, the foundation will likely be submerged yet again.

town of San Marcos, Sinaloa, once flooded for dam — Residents have worked together to restore the town’s plaza, basketball court and church. The church was damaged during a Guadalajara paintball club event. “They marketed it as an abandoned town, but there are still people,” Paulita said.

Graveyard in San Marcos, Sinaloa — The cemetery’s tombstones remain, some of them worse for the wear. Most remains were relocated before the reservoir was first filled.

Reservoir near San Marcos, Sinaloa — As dams continue to be built for a country in drought, more people displaced by such projects will need compensation and relocation.

Puebla eco-park’s neighbors launch campaign to prevent big music festival

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MND Staff

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July 12, 2022

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A previous version of the Tecate Comuna festival.

Neighbors and people who love to visit the second largest park in the city of Puebla are waging a battle against plans to hold a music festival there in October.

On hiatus for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tecate Comuna has been scheduled to return to Parque Ecológico Revolución Mexicana on October 22-23. Thousands of people are expected to attend and the musicians will perform from a huge stage constructed atop a grass field.

But concerned citizens say they have collected 3,000 signatures in an attempt to stop the festival. They are also preparing to file an injunction against organizers to get the event called off.

“We must emphasize to the authorities that the Parque Ecológico is not the ideal place to carry out this type of act that damages nature,” the newspaper La Jornada de Oriente quoted the group as saying. “This park is for children. It is a lung of the capital. If we don’t fight for recreational and sports spaces, the new generations will suffer.”

Located on the east side of town, Parque Ecológico covers 58 hectares (the equivalent of about 90 square city blocks) and includes lakes, bike trails, an aviary, botanical gardens, jogging areas, a skateboard park and athletic fields.

Those rallying against the festival — which is slated to include the Spanish group Love of Lesbian, the ska and Latin ryhythms band Los Auténticos Decadentes from Argentina, 22-year-old singer Kenia Os from Mazatlán and California rockers Sublime With Rome — are basing their argument on the damage that was caused during the 2019 edition of the festival.

According to the activists, the result of that event was damage to trees, dozens of dead birds, a lot of trash and debris left behind, and damaged lawns caused by the stage and the festival goers. This year’s event might even include three stages, as well as an area for food trucks. They stated that a soccer or baseball stadium would be better options for such an event.

Plus they brought into question the illogical stance of the state’s minister of the environment for granting a permit to hold an event that “flagrantly violates environmental regulations” — and is being held in a space that has “ecological park” as part of its name. They noted that the park was not designed for concerts and massive shows, but for the preservation of flora and fauna, and for recreation.

If they don’t get the response from authorities they are seeking, they said they will file for an amparo, an injunction, in order to protect the park. Marches and other protests might be organized, as well.

“We already had a tragic experience that should not be repeated,” said local resident Guadalupe Medina Velázquez, referring to the Tecate music festival in Puebla in 2019, which was called Catrina Fest. “It left visible damage to the environment with noise and light pollution, some birds died because of the festival, and within just a few hours they caused damage that still has not been rectified. There was a promise to plant trees and compensate for the environmental damage, but to date nothing has been done.”

The activists also reminded people that when former mayor Claudia Rivera Vivanco granted the permits for the 2019 festival, Governor Luis Miguel Barbosa Huerta promised to never allow a musical event in Parque Ecológico again. Barbosa is still the governor, and the activists are demanding a statement from him on the matter.

With reports from La Jornada de Oriente and E-Consulta

Bitcoin ATM operates in Cancún but outside jurisdiction of financial authorities

By

MND Staff

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July 12, 2022

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Cancún's first Bitcoin ATM was installed earlier this year.

A Bitcoin ATM has been installed in Cancún, Quintana Roo, triggering concerns that it could facilitate money laundering, especially given that Mexico lacks cryptocurrency regulations.

Installed in a downtown youth hostel a few months ago, the ATM allows users to buy and sell the cryptocurrency and withdraw cash by tapping into their bitcoin wallets. It was installed by a fintech company despite an absence of a regulatory framework to govern the operation of crypto ATMs in Mexico, where cryptocurrencies are not legal tender.

Financial authorities have warned that their use can facilitate money laundering and advised in a statement last year that “the country’s financial institutions are not authorized to carry out and offer operations to the public using virtual assets.”

The newspaper Por Esto! visited Hostal Venado 8 in central Cancún to learn more about the operation of the Yucatán Peninsula’s only Bitcoin ATM. It discovered that it was installed by an independent company called Crypto Flamingo, which claims to have “the most reliable cryptocurrency ATM network in Mexico.”

Por Esto! contacted the Mexico City-based company and spoke with Pablo, one of its partners. “We’re expanding. We have one [ATM] in Mexico City, one in Cancún, and we’ve just installed another in Guadalajara. … We’re growing quite well,” he said.

Por Esto! questioned Pablo about the source of cash for the ATM, asking whether it was supplied by a bank. He responded that the cash’s source was a confidential matter about which he couldn’t provide any information. The newspaper also asked the Crypto Flamingo partner whether the company had been approached by any financial authority given that bitcoin is not legal tender in Mexico. In addition, Por Esto! inquired as to whether the fintech had obtained a permit to install its ATM in Cancún.

“Send me these questions and I’ll respond to those … [I can]. Of course I’m not going to share [answers] to specific questions such as those you’re asking me, due to matters of confidentiality,” Pablo told a Por Esto! reporter.

The newspaper sent its questions via WhatsApp but didn’t receive a response. Por Esto! also reported that it couldn’t find any evidence that Crypto Flamingo is overseen by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), a financial sector regulator.

“We looked at the CNBV website to see whether Crypto Flamingo is supervised by that authority, but it doesn’t appear among the companies with a license to operate as an Institution of Electronic Payment Funds or as a collective funding institute or as a ‘new [financial] model,’” the newspaper said.

It noted that bank customers can go to the National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Financial Services Users – Condusef – if they have an ATM-related problem that isn’t resolved by the bank, but in the case of crypto ATMs there is no certainty about which authority, if any, can provide assistance to a person who didn’t get the money they should have received.

“Until now there is no regulation that protects [cryptocurrency users],” Por Esto! said, adding that the installation of a Bitcoin ATM in Cancún is not a minor matter given the high number of international tourists the Caribbean coast city welcomes.

“Let’s remember that Cancún and the Riviera Maya have become areas where different criminal groups operate, [including international ones], and consequently the use of digital assets could be a convenient strategy that allows them to launder money by converting bitcoins into legal tender bills, far from the gaze of tax, financial and monetary authorities,” the newspaper said.

The owner of the hostel where the ATM is located said in March that the service had been well received by foreign visitors.

With reports from Por Esto!

Electric buggies arrive in Mérida but will tourists prefer the horse-drawn variety?

By

MND Staff

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July 12, 2022

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Officials riding new electric buggies in Merida, Yucatan — Governor of Yucatán Mauricio Vila, in carriage, right background, was among the dignitaries who launched Mérida's new electric carriages on Friday.

Six electric carriages began offering tours of Mérida, Yucatán, last Friday, but business started slowly for the drivers of the horse-free, environmentally-friendly vehicles.

Mérida Mayor Renán Barrera and Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila were on hand for the official launch of the calesas eléctricas, which took place at the entrance to Paseo de Montejo, the stately avenue that connects Mérida’s historic center to northern neighborhoods of the state capital.

The electric buggies, which arrived from China in May, are operating alongside horse-drawn carriages, which have been showing tourists the sights of Mérida for years. Barrera told reporters that environmentally-friendly electric carriages would have been unimaginable 30 years ago.

“This new tourism option promotes innovation and at the same time conserves traditions [while] adapting to new times,” the mayor said.

horse drawn buggy in Merida — So far, tourists seem to prefer the traditional horse-drawn buggies to catch Mérida’s sights. File photo

The Mérida government purchased the six electric carriages and has offered loans to operators to help them buy them. The loans cover 41% of the total cost because the other 59% is covered by municipal authorities. Drivers have been given training on how to operate the electric vehicles.

It remains to be seen whether they will be popular among tourists, or whether visitors to la ciudad blanca (the white city) will prefer to admire sights such as las casas gemelas (the twin houses) and el Monumento a la Patria (Monument to the Homeland) from a traditional horse-drawn buggy.

The day after the new carriages began operating, there was scant interest in riding in them, the newspaper Por Esto! reported. It said that only one trip was completed between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.

“People aren’t used to them yet,” said Manuel Torres Velasco, a driver who hoped that business would pick up on Saturday night.

Only two of the six electric carriages operated during the daytime on Saturday, but Torres predicted that more would come out in the evening, when Mérida’s oppressive heat starts to lose its bite.

During the day, tourists chose to ride in the traditional horse-drawn carriages over the electric ones, Por Esto! reported.

“People have come to ask [about tours], but no one has decided to get in yet,” said Torres, whose family also has two horse-drawn buggies. “We’re going to continue trying the electric ones to see how the response is, but if [demand] stays low, we’ll combine [the use of the electric carriages] with the traditional ones,” he said.

The price of a tour in the new electric buggies is the same as the horse-drawn ones – 400 pesos, or about US $20. Among the potential customers for the former are people who believe that the use of horses to pull carriages is cruel. Tourists can board an electric buggy at the Plaza Grande – Mérida’s central square – or on Paseo de Montejo.

With reports from Diario de Yucatán and Por Esto!

Prepare for the worst: corn supplies may have serious repercussions for Mexico

By

Beldon Butterfield

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July 12, 2022

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Expat sees corn crisis looming. deposit photos

Back in the late 1980s and leading up to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the PYMES (small and medium size companies) did not understand the effects of the opening of the Mexican economy to foreign investment.

My two Mexican partners and I attended a conference where the speaker kept repeating, “Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.” We followed the advice and survived, but many in the middle class did not and soon found themselves facing bankruptcy.

Today Mexico is facing the same problem and those most affected are the 47% (AMLO’s latest figures) of those living below the poverty line and are paying no attention. The key word is corn. To summarize: The four largest exporting countries of corn are the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Ukraine. The second largest importer of corn in the world is Mexico, where the product is the most important food staple for the making of tortillas.

They are also not aware that parts of the Midwest of the United States where corn is harvested have been suffering from drought, nor are they aware that President Biden insists that the growers of corn turn this into ethanol as a substitute in light of growing gasoline prices.

The poor may be aware that there is a war going on between Russia and Ukraine but have no idea that globally this has affected the supply of corn in the world.

Those Mexicans living below the poverty line, what the sociologist Oscar Lewis called “The Culture Of Poverty” based on two books titled The Children of Sanchez and Five Families, are totally unaware of these global realities that will inevitably have a serious effect on their well-being. The word partial famine comes to mind.

What does this have to do with the expat community? It behooves every one of us to talk to those Mexicans who work for us and explain these realities by advising them to save as much money as possible for the upcoming crisis. As an example, my gardener and handyman has many part-time jobs so he can invest in building a home for his wife and three-year-old daughter.

I told him, “Stop investing your money in a new home for the time being and concentrate on feeding your family. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”

I hope he listens, but I have my doubts. It’s the effort that counts.

Beldon Butterfield is a writer and former publisher and media representative. He is retired and lives in San Miguel de Allende.