The man used his SUV to crash through a fence and push a pickup truck out of his way.
An elderly man was arrested in Tamaulipas on Tuesday for trying to skip the line for a COVID-19 shot, colliding with at least one vehicle and a fence in the process.
The man arrived in a white sport utility vehicle at the drive-through vaccination center in Tampico at a campus of the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas. He drove into a steel gate at an entrance to the campus before accelerating and crashing into a pickup truck belonging to the university.
In a video, he is seen accelerating into the university vehicle — which spins around 180 degrees — forcing his way past it before driving on. “He might run someone over up there,” someone can be heard saying.
The unidentified suspect was stopped some 100 meters farther down the road by National Guardsmen and university security guards.
After being instructed to leave his vehicle by officers, he refused to do so, arguing that he had symptoms of COVID-19 and could be contagious, the newspaper El Universal reported.
Abuelito no quería hacer fila y tumba puerta de módulo de vacunación en Tampico
A news report with footage of the incident.
The man can be heard screaming in another video as he is detained by force by three people. Meanwhile, his pickup was removed by a tow truck.
The diplomatic appointment of an academic accused of sexual harassment has been slammed by feminist collectives.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday announced the appointment of 16 diplomats to Mexican embassies and consulates.
Pedro Agustín Salmerón, a National Autonomous University-trained historian, was named as the new ambassador to Panama.
The 50-year-old, a Mexican history expert and prominent ally of President López Obrador with no previous diplomatic experience, has been formally accused of sexual harassment by at least one person, while several other women have denounced him anonymously.
Salmerón resigned from his position at the Autonomous Technical Institute of Mexico (ITAM), a private university, in 2019 after an internal harassment complaint was filed against him at a time when the feminist #MeToo movement was gaining strength in Mexico.
ITAM acknowledged that there was evidence that he had harassed at least one female student in his Mexican history class.
Salmerón has denied the accusations, and took to Twitter to declare his innocence once again on Tuesday. His account later disappeared from the social media site.
The announcement of his appointment as ambassador to Panama, which must be ratified by the Senate, triggered an avalanche of criticism on social media. The ITAM feminist group Cuarta Ola was among the organizations that slammed the move.
Under the hashtag #UnAcosadorNoDebeSerEmbajador (A harasser mustn’t be an ambassador), the group published a statement on Twitter that called on the government to reconsider the appointment.
In light of Salmerón’s appointment “we want to express our indignation and concern over the multiple harassment complaints against him that are being ignored,” Cuarta Ola said.
“During his years as a professor at ITAM, Pedro Salmerón took advantage of his position of authority to sexually harass his female students,” the group said, noting that a university investigation was initiated as a result of his conduct.
President López Obrador has drawn criticism for defending Salmerón, left.
Cuarto Ola acknowledged that Salmerón denies the harassment accusations but noted that ITAM directors have accepted there is evidence to support them.
“This situation is repetitive and systematic,” it said, adding that complaints have been made against him via the MeTooAcádemicosMX Twitter account and at the National Autonomous University, where Salmerón studied for years. Eight female members of the ruling Morena party have also accused the academic of harassment, Cuarto Ola said.
“… His appointment as ambassador is of great concern given that he has shown he is a person who abuses his position of power to harass women. With his appointment hundreds of women are placed at risk of suffering gender violence. This decision shows a lack of respect for victims and strengthens the system of impunity in which we live. … We hope that his appointment is reconsidered and justice for victims is served,” the feminist group said.
Former students of Salmerón who spoke with the newspaper El País called on the Senate to block his appointment.
Karla Torres, a classmate of the student who filed a complaint at ITAM, described Salmerón as a “constant harasser in all the universities” at which he has worked. His appointment as an ambassador is “very painful” for his victims, she said.
Another student who preferred to remain anonymous told El País that Salmerón would hit on young female students during drinking sessions at cantinas that took place at the conclusion of class trips to the historic center of Mexico City, where Mexico’s pre-Hispanic and colonial pasts, and independent present, intersect.
López Obrador on Tuesday defended Salmerón’s appointment, saying that he wasn’t aware of any “formal and legal complaint” against him.
Martha Tagle, a former federal deputy for the Citizens Movement party and member of the Rebeldes con Causa feminist collective, said López Obrador’s support for Salmerón was regrettable.
“It’s not the first time that he has covered up for a person accused of sexual violence. He doesn’t believe what women say and despite the accusations [against Salmerón] he nominated him [as ambassador to Panama],” she said.
“The underlying problem we have is that the president doesn’t acknowledge the issue of violence against women; that’s why he asks for evidence, criminal processes [against alleged perpetrators] without understanding that neither laws nor the criminal system guarantee us justice,” Tagle said.
Protesting student teachers from a rural training college in Michoacán clashed with state police officers on Monday.
The students tried to stop trucks and buses on the Siglo 21 highway near Tiripetío, 25 kilometers southwest of Morelia, in order to block traffic.
When state police arrived, the protesters fired rockets and threw stones at them.
In response, the officers fired tear gas at the students, who fled to their nearby school.
In a video published by the news website La Silla Rota, some 100 protesters are seen on both sides of the highway with a large cloud of gas spreading across it.
The Public Security Ministry said that there were no injuries.
The students were demanding that jobs be automatically awarded to teachers who have completed their training, without fulfilling the legally required accreditation process. It is a perennial demand by students and the dissident CNTE teachers union.
Blockades are a common tactic for dissatisfied teachers and teachers-to-be in Michoacán and other states: members of the CNTE blocked tracks for 91 days last year, costing businesses an estimated 50 million pesos per day (US $2.5 million at the exchange rate at the time).
Manufacturing represents more opportunities for Mexico but pragmatic solutions that leave behind ideological debate are needed.
It may seem hard to believe today but Brazil and Mexico were once the envy of the world. Their economies grew more than 6% a year from 1951-80, almost as fast as postwar growth paragons South Korea and Japan.
Since the debt crisis of the 1980s, Latin America has fallen badly behind. In recent years it has sunk to the bottom of the emerging market class, underperforming the Middle East or sub-Saharan Africa.
Latin America’s inability to grow generates much hand-wringing and many theories. Low productivity, poor infrastructure, corruption and political instability are recurrent themes. Criticisms are leveled at the leftwing governments of the early 2000s for not investing enough wealth from the commodity boom in building competitive infrastructure or delivering high-quality education and health. The right is faulted for doing too little to tackle entrenched inequality, promote effective competition or make taxation fairer.
Coronavirus cruelly exposed Latin America’s limitations; the combined health and economic impact from the pandemic was the worst in the world. Now change is in the air. In a series of important elections, voters in the region have turned on incumbents and picked radical newcomers. Peru and Chile have swung far to the left, Ecuador, Uruguay and Argentina have tilted back to the right. Brazil and Colombia vote this year.
Fortunately, Latin America’s plentiful natural resources mean that opportunities abound. The region is rich in two key metals for electrification: copper and lithium. Home to some of the world’s sunniest and windiest areas, it could generate gigawatts of ultra-low-cost electricity to produce and export green hydrogen.
The region is in the middle of a tech boom so big that it attracted more private capital in the first half of last year than southeast Asia. The world’s biggest standalone digital bank, Nubank, is Brazilian. Tiny Uruguay is a leading software exporter.
A push by the U.S. to bring production closer to its shores could give manufacturing in Mexico and Central America a fillip. Brazil has fostered the development of globally competitive high-tech agriculture.
To exploit these opportunities to the full, Latin America needs to adopt pragmatic solutions that leave behind ideological debate. This should begin with the axiom that wealth must first be created to be shared. A flourishing private sector, a fully functioning state, quality public services, the rule of law and foreign investment are all essential ingredients.
Taxation in some nations is too low but raising it will only help if the proceeds deliver healthier, better educated and more productive citizens, and competitive economies. Too often in Latin America, higher government spending has meant padded payrolls and increased corruption, rather than better outcomes.
Citizens across Latin America are growing restive. Tolerance for governments of any stripe that fail to deliver is minimal. Their faith in elected presidents is being sorely tested.
During the last growth spurt, Mexico was a one-party state and Brazil mostly a military dictatorship. If the region is to avoid sliding back into populist authoritarianism, its new leaders urgently need to show that democracy can deliver strong, sustainable growth and shared prosperity. That means abandoning dogma and seeking consensus around long-term policies to build effective states, strengthen the rule of law and create globally competitive economies. Time is running out.
The federal government has declared its intention to expropriate 198 privately owned properties for the construction of the Maya Train railroad in Quintana Roo, raising concern among local authorities and the business community.
In a notice published in its official gazette on Monday, the government said it intended to expropriate properties of “public utility” in the municipalities of Benito Juárez (Cancún), Puerto Morelos and Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen).
Publication of the notice by the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Urban Planning came nine days after the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) asked it to take the necessary steps to acquire properties needed for the construction of the railroad in northern Quintana Roo.
The total area of the land the government plans to expropriate is approximately 241 hectares, which it wants for the northern portion of section 5 of the railroad, running between Cancún and Playa del Carmen. Sedena will build the section.
Publication of the expropriation notice came 12 days after President López Obrador announced that the southern portion of the same section, which will run between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, would be rerouted so that it doesn’t run between the northbound and southbound lanes of Federal Highway 307.
Part of the northern portion that was also slated to run between the highway will be rerouted as well, precipitating the government’s need for private land in the three northern Quintana Roo municipalities.
Rogelio Jiménez Pons, whom the president recently removed from his position at the helm of the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur), which is managing the Maya Train project, said just before his departure that the government would spend about 1 billion pesos (US $49 million) to buy land between Playa del Carmen and Tulum for the new route, to be built by a consortium made up of Grupo México and Spanish firm Acciona.
A lot of the properties required for the new right of way are owned by hoteliers who have expressed their support for the rerouting of the line and are willing to sell, Jiménez said.
But for construction of the northern portion of section 5, the government appears intent on getting the land it needs for free.
The Riviera Maya Hotel Association (AHRM) promptly set out its opposition to the plan, issuing a statement that noted its members would be affected. The association said it had requested a meeting with new Fonatur director Javier May Rodríguez.
“We are confident that agreements can be reached through dialogue and negotiation. Among those affected [by the planned expropriation] are important hotel chains,” said AHRM president Tony Chávez.
The mayor of Solidaridad, where 142 of the properties are located, also responded to the expropriation notice. Lili Campos Miranda said her government was reviewing the expropriation plan to determine whether municipal assets would be affected. The mayor warned that Solidaridad would take legal action if its assets were to be adversely impacted.
The president of the Riviera Maya branch of the Business Coordinating Council said he would also review the government’s plan. However, Lenin Amaro Betancourt said he hadn’t received any complaints from affected landowners and raised the possibility that the government had in fact reached agreements with them.
But if that were the case, the publication of an expropriation notice would appear to be unnecessary.
Amaro asserted that the information published in the official gazette was not precise and called on the government to clarify its intentions.
The US $8 billion, 1,500-kilometer-long Maya Train railroad is one of the federal government’s signature infrastructure projects. The railroad, which will run through Quintana Roo, Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco and Yucatán, is slated for completion in late 2023.
López Obrador claims that the operation of the railroad – on which tourist, freight and local transport trains will run – will bring economic benefits to Mexico’s southeast, but the project has faced opposition, including that of Mayan residents who have questioned whether it will in fact improve their lot in life.
A driver who broke the rules dispenses gel in Mexico City.
Motorists in Mexico City who broke traffic rules are paying for it by enforcing COVID protocols as a form of community service.
On Tuesday, sanctioned drivers were on the corredor Madero, a pedestrian walkway between the Bellas Artes museum and the zócalo in the borough of Cuauhtémoc in Mexico City’s historic center, holding signs urging citizens to wear face masks and offering antibacterial gel.
The hours of work owed depend on how many traffic points the drivers have accumulated: each point must be repaid with two hours of community service.
One of the drivers, Karime Athie, was sanctioned for breaking the speed limit and owes 14 hours of community service. Athie said she supported the scheme, and saw the social benefit. “I have to pay with my service. Right now I’m supporting the government by reminding people to wear the mask and apply gel,” she said.
Athie added that she also had to watch an instructional video, complete an online course and attend a face-to-face course as part of the punishment.
The motorists instructed to do community services are given other options, such as removing weeds from outside the office of the mayor of Xochimilco, a borough in the south of Mexico City.
To check their points, drivers can search for “fotocívicas” and create an account with their CURP identity numbers.
Mexico is one of the easiest countries in the world to get a drivers license. In Mexico City, one of the cities with the highest density of traffic in the world, there is no theoretical or practical examination process and a three-year license can be obtained for 871 pesos (about $44).
Flat tires on a trailer at the toll plaza in Ecatepec on Tuesday.
A semi-trailer on Tuesday became the first victim of a new tire-popping system when it passed through a México state toll plaza without paying the 162-peso (US $8) toll.
Twenty-two of the semi’s tires were punctured after it passed through the Las Américas toll plaza on the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense (México state Outer Loop Road) in Ecatepec without paying the toll, according to a report broadcast on Milenio Televisión.
The semi managed to travel on the punctured tires for eight kilometers past the toll plaza before it was forced to stop.
There were no other victims of the spike system on its first day of operation, the newspaper El Universal reported.
However, several drivers backed up their vehicles and handed over the toll after an alarm warned them that the perforation of their tires was imminent.
#AzucenaxMilenio | Este martes, entró en operación el sistema “poncha llantas” en la caseta de cobro Las Américas del Circuito Exterior Mexiquense en #Ecatepec, con el cual la concesionaria busca evitar que los conductores evadan el pago pic.twitter.com/1vHwpA2lGG
Protesters and scofflaws at the Américas toll plaza.
In addition to having their vehicles’ tires punctured, drivers who fail to pay the applicable toll face fines of up to 8,500 pesos (US $415) and have to cover the cost of a tow truck if required.
The tire popping system was installed at the Las Américas toll plaza due to the high number of drivers who were evading tolls. Signs on the loop road warn motorists that the system is in operation.
The drivers of transit vans said they would have to increase fares now that they can’t avoid paying the toll.
The entry into operation of the automated dissuasion system – which consists of a retractable barrier of metal spikes – triggered a protest at the toll plaza on Tuesday afternoon.
People who said they belonged to an organization called Resistencia Civil Pacífica, or Pacific Civil Resistance, helped motorists pass through the toll gates without paying a toll and without having their vehicles’ tires punctured. After 20 minutes of boom barrier lifting the protesters left, the newspaper Reforma reported.
Meanwhile, Morena party lawmakers in México state said they would ask the state Transport Ministry, via a motion to be presented in Congress, to ban the the traffic spike system.
Ecatepec Deputy Azucena Cisneros Coss said the system could lead to violence at the toll plaza.
“… We’re talking about the most expensive toll road in the country – from Ecatepec to Toluca and back on the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense costs you almost 1,000 pesos [US $49], we’re talking about a lot of money. … [That’s why] there is an outcry and social anger, especially in Ecatepec,” she said.
The citizens' group not only detained the mayor and education minister but also confiscated municipal vehicles.
Citizens from an indigenous town in Oaxaca beat up the mayor and detained him along with the town’s Education Minister for alleged corruption on Monday.
People from San Martín Peras, in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, 300 kilometers west of Oaxaca city, accuse the mayor, Román Juárez Cruz, and the Education Minister, Braulio González Ortiz, of illicit dealings and of breaking the the indigenous governing code known as usos y costumbres.
They said they told Juárez to resign on November 14, but that he refused to leave the position. The citizens assured that he and his family had not been harmed.
A video on social media shows people blocking off a pickup truck on a highway and forcing Juárez out of his vehicle, the newspaper Milenio reported.
The community has asked the Oaxaca Congress to dismiss Juárez and the state auditor OSFEO to carry out an audit of his spending.
The president of the Citizens’ Municipal Committee, Elpidio Ramírez Morales, said most of town’s citizens were involved in the action. “The people, committed to their usos y costumbres, decided to [apprehend] … Mr. Román Juárez Cruz and Mr. Braulio González Ortiz.”
Ramírez added that citizens wouldn’t accept an unelected mayor as a replacement. “There’s a possibility that the Congress will enact a dispersal of powers. We don’t want that … we won’t accept the presence of an administrator in San Martín Peras … here they just come to steal and not to help the people,” he said.
Grocery and department store chain Chedraui plans to open 33 new stores in Mexico and the United States in 2022.
The company will open five large Súper Chedraui stores, one Chedraui store and 25 smaller Supercito stores in Mexico. It will introduce two new stores in the U.S. under the Smart & Final brand it bought in May 2021.
The new additions will expand its sales floor in Mexico by 1.6% and by 0.6% in the U.S.
Chedraui said it was investing about 2.1% of its revenue in the new stores and that it projects a 4.5% growth in sales in Mexico, which would signal 12% sales growth in the country over two years.
The director of analysis at commodities trader Intercam Casa de Bolsa, Alejandra Marcos, said the future looked bright for the chain. “These numbers are positive, and they are aligned with our projections. Chedraui has been a vendor that has demonstrated a strong ability to integrate various acquisitions. It has a solid balance sheet and has benefited from the current environment,” she said.
Chedraui opened its first supermarket in 1971 in Xalapa, Veracruz, having been founded as a clothing store 44 years earlier by Lebanese immigrants. It operates more than 200 stores in central and southern Mexico and is the third largest retailer after Walmart and Soriana.
Citizens marched in Juárez, Chihuahua, on Monday night to commemorate the death of an artist and women’s rights activist killed two years earlier.
Isabel Cabanillas de la Torre, 26, was murdered on January 17, 2020 after heading home from a bar in downtown Juárez on her bicycle.
Citizens walked with candles and cycled on Monday to the place Cabanillas was killed to pay their respects.
The single mother was an active member of a women’s collective. She was followed by a car and shot in front of a government building, where the CCTV cameras were inactive, the news website Border Report said.
Cabanillas’ mother, Reyna de la Torre, said police still had no suspects or motives, and that she would continue holding memorials for her daughter. “I will remember my daughter as a happy person who was leaving a happy place … I will do this [the memorial] year after year as long as God wills,” she said.
De la Torre added that the problem of violence appeared to have deteriorated further. “I think violence has increased a lot. Especially against women, with more cruelty than ever.”
More than 500 women have been murdered in Juárez in the past three years, with 172 in 2021.
Police have said most of those killings were drug related. However, activists claim that police tend to dismiss homicides as drug related to avoid investigating them.
On January 16, police found the mutilated bodies of two women on a highway near Juárez. A total of 10 women have been murdered in the city in the first 18 days of 2022, according to Border Report.
