Morena lawmakers create MX-Russia friendship group; Russia hails Mexico’s solidarity

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March 24, 2022

Mexico has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but that didn’t stop a group of lawmakers from creating a Mexico-Russia friendship group.

Made up of deputies from the ruling Morena party, the Labor Party (PT) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the group was formally established Wednesday in the lower house of Congress while Citizens Movement (MC) party lawmakers protested against the move.

Russian Ambassador Viktor Koronelli acknowledged the committee’s creation as an indication of Mexico’s solidarity with Russia.

“This mechanism is a sign of support, solidarity and friendship for us,” Koronelli said, observing that the group was formed during “complicated times.”

He asserted that Russia didn’t start the war, but “is finishing it,” condemned fake news about the conflict in the west, charged that Russia is a victim of discrimination and racial hate and offered dubious justifications for the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Koronelli also acknowledged that Mexico has not imposed any sanctions on Russia.

“We very much respect the position shown on several occasions by the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador ,[and] Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard,” Koronelli said.

“[They have indicated] that Mexico will never join in with the anti-Russian sanctions and that it will not supply arms to Ukraine, despite the requests of the Ukraine government,” the ambassador said.

“In the world today there are countries like China, India and Mexico that will never reply ‘Yes, sir’ to the orders of Uncle Sam,” he said. “… Our relationship with Mexico has a strategic character and is based on mutual respect of national interests.”

Members of the friendship group – whose creation had been postponed due to the situation in Ukraine – said they were concerned about the lack of peace, but didn’t condemn Russia’s invasion, the newspaper Reforma reported.

PT president and lawmaker Alberto Anaya thanked Koronelli for the “pertinent” information he offered about the conflict in Ukraine, while 92-year-old PRI Deputy Augusto Gómez praised the ambassador for representing the “heroic people” of Russia and “illuminating the thinking” of his fellow lawmakers.

As other party leaders announced the Mexico-Russia friendship group, Citizens' Movement lawmakers protested outside the meeting. — As other party leaders announced the Mexico-Russia friendship group, Citizens’ Movement lawmakers protested the move.

Morena Deputy Armando Contreras claimed that Mexican lawmakers are “always ready to do everything we can to increase the friendship, relations and cooperation between Mexico and Russia in every aspect of the world and life.”

In a Twitter post, the deputy said he had emphasized that “we’ll strive for a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as a prompt meeting of lawmakers from … [Mexico and Russia] to create an agenda that unites our nations.”

Three National Action Party (PAN) lawmakers were slated to join the friendship group, but pulled out at the last minute. Deputies with the conservative party said they didn’t want to be part of the “imprudence and lack of sensitivity” the formation of the group represented.

MC deputies protested its establishment and demonstrated their support for Ukraine, holding up signs that read “No to the war.”

“The best way of showing our friendship with the Russian people is … to isolate its tyrannical government that is massacring … [the Ukrainian] people,” said Salomón Chertorivski, an MC deputy and former federal health minister.

“There are already more than 3 million displaced Ukrainians. With complete force but in a peaceful way we express our rejection of the installation of the Mexico-Russia friendship group,” he said, referring to the number of people who have left Ukraine since the invasion began.

MC Deputy Jorge Álvarez Máynez said the group’s creation was incongruent with Mexico’s condemnation of Russia at the United Nations.

“We don’t have a conflict between two guilty parties; we have a clear invader and … people who are being massacred,” he added.

While Mexico condemned Russia’s invasion in a message delivered by the foreign minister in late February and at a March 2 session of the United Nations General Assembly, López Obrador on Wednesday used different language to describe the country’s position.

“In the case of the war we’re not going to participate in favor or against. Our position is one of neutrality, which has to do with the [non-interventionist] foreign policy of Mexico. Of course we’re in favor of peace and peaceful solution of disputes. Hopefully [there will be] dialogue and an agreement is reached, but we don’t want to be protagonists, to offer our mediation – no. That’s what the United Nations is for,” he said.

The cozying up of some lawmakers to Russia comes at a time when Mexico’s relations with Europe are strained due to López Obrador’s pointed criticism of the European Parliament after it condemned the harassment and killing of journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico in a resolution approved on March 10.

With reports from Milenio, El País and Reforma

IMSS for the expat: it’s a viable and affordable option

By

Jennifer Trujillo

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March 24, 2022

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If you are living in Mexico and work full time for a Mexican company, chances are that you have IMSS (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social) coverage. But what about the rest of us?

IMSS is Mexico’s answer to socialized medicine. As a contract worker for both Mexican and American schools, I did not qualify, or so I thought. Most expats grapple over the question, private insurance or IMSS?

IMSS is both a viable and an affordable option. It is also tried and true. You can find an IMSS clinic within blocks of your home and even while traveling. The initial process is complicated but the savings makes it worth it.

At 50, my annual premium was US $571 and there are no costs beyond that, such as copays or prescriptions. My daughter was a dependent at no additional cost until she turned 16. Had she been enrolled in a Mexican school; the coverage would have continued for free. Since she was not, I was able to purchase her coverage for $300 annually.

The initial process of getting set up can be frustrating but using the insurance is not. There is an app where you can find your clinic and sub-delegation based on your postal code. First you must create a trámite which can be done on the website. This is not difficult if you speak a reasonable amount of Spanish. If you don’t, you will need to find a Spanish speaker to help. You should choose incorporación voluntaria on the site. This will produce your trámite and allow you to print invoices.

I would highly recommend paying for a year at a time. It is possible to pay monthly but that requires you to go to the bank every month. There is no option to pay online. If you are one day late, they will cancel it and you have to start from scratch. Sadly, I learned that lesson the hard way.

Next, take the invoices to the bank and pay them. Any bank should be able to process these transactions. However, if you do not go to your bank, you will need to bring cash. My daughter has a long last name that the system could not handle so IMSS had to print the invoice. This required me to pull cash from an ATM and go to a specific bank near the sub-delegation.

Now here is where it gets tricky. If you are missing a single document when you make your initial trip to your sub-delegation, you will be turned away. There will probably be zero English speakers on staff. They have tried to turn me away due to lack of documents. I knew I had them all which resulted in a friendly disagreement that was ultimately resolved.

If you want to complete the transaction, do not appear frustrated or angry. If you do, you can expect no help. If you are patient and friendly, you will have a better experience.

This is what you will need (original and copies):

Residente temporal or permanante
Your trámite
Invoices with proof of payment (receipts) attached
Two photographs infantil (you can have these made at any passport photo shop)
Birth certificate
A Mexican social security number (de seguridad social). Hopefully you have this. If not, it will require a trip to another office. IMSS will give you the information for the location.
Proof of residence – a bill such as CFE or gas that is less than three months old.

IMSS smartphone app — IMSS has a smartphone app to help users locate the nearest clinic among other services.

If you are missing any of these items, you will be turned away until you have them. The processing of paperwork will take some time so bring a book. There also may be a lineup. Some sub-delegations will give you a card for an appointment for another day and others will see you the same day. It is a crap shoot.

Never go on Monday if you can avoid it. Once you have accomplished all of that, congratulations! Go have a drink and some tacos. The hard part is over.

Once your paperwork has been processed, now you need to go to your clinic where they will give you a book that works like an insurance card. They will need one of the photos infantil for the book. There may be a lineup but this doesn’t take any time at all. Depending on your clinic, they may want to do a quick physical and record the results in your book. If not, you should book an appointment which is easily done on their app.

IMSS is great for preventative medicine, vaccinations, and prescriptions. They also have dental care. I have been told it is really great in emergencies but thankfully have no experience with that. After recovering from COVID last year, I went to IMSS to see how it impacted my health. They did a full blood screening, chest x-ray, and even a mammogram while I was there.

That being said, IMSS is not always the best solution. Last May, I required an invasive surgery and decided to go to a private hospital. I found a specialist on the Doctoralia app who spoke English and was able to pay cash for a procedure that required anesthesia and an overnight stay. The total cost was $3,000. I also lost a crown and rather than going to IMMS, because I deemed it an emergency, I just walked around to a few dentists before I found one who replaced it for $25.

There are also some preexisting conditions — malignant tumors, chronic degenerative diseases and congenital diseases, for example — that are not covered by IMSS.

Ultimately, my advice would be to avoid private insurance in Mexico unless you are wealthy. It is outrageously expensive and I don’t trust that it would be available when needed.

IMSS was founded in 1943 and clinics are present everywhere in Mexico. Sometimes you may want to go private and pay cash but IMSS will be there when you really need it.

Jennifer Trujillo is an English and Spanish professor from Texas living in Mexico City.

A quick guide to Mexico’s expat ‘boat people’ subculture

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Leigh Thelmadatter

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March 23, 2022

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clubhouse near Marina de La Paz — Boaters visiting Mexico display their artwork for judging outside the clubhouse of Club Cruceros de La Paz near Marina de La Paz. Pat Rains

Much has been written about the many people who live in Mexico part- or full-time, but relatively little has been written about Mexico’s different expat subcultures.

One group I have found nothing about is that of folks whose Mexico experience revolves around their use of their own personal boats. A Google search gives only a bunch of ads for rentals. But it’s not hard to understand why boaters would be drawn to Mexico’s coasts.

The vast majority of these boaters come from the United States and Canada. They may spend all or part of the year here and go through immigration and tax procedures similar to us landlubbers. But there is diversity here. Boaters can range greatly in age — from those in their twenties with their tiny, stripped-down first boat to the retirees who have the financial means to live on floating mansions.

Most boaters, no matter what the vessel, seem to prefer the same regions of Mexico. The strongest expat boating culture is on the northwest Mexican coast, including Baja. One reason is that this region — stretching from Puerto Vallarta northward — is closest to the west coasts of the U.S. and Canada but also because it boasts bold landscapes and seascapes, not to mention the Gulf of California, which Jacques Cousteau dubbed “the world’s aquarium.”

If you’re interested in getting involved in the boating community here, some of Mexico’s most popular marinas are in Ensenada, Baja California; Los Cabos and La Paz in Baja California Sur; Mazatlán, Sinaloa; and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. There are also increasing facilities in the upper Gulf. The yacht and sailing clubs that provide camaraderie and logistical support to foreign boaters are mainly in the northwest, including Club Cruceros in La Paz and the Acapulco Yacht Club. However, be careful when approaching organizations with “club” in their name; many are really boat rental businesses.

Two young sport fishermen fishing for bait in Cabo San Lucas harbor in Dad’s inflatable dinghy with the family’s 65-foot sportfishing yacht behind them. Pat Rains

The southern Pacific coast is not unknown to boaters, with its facilities in Acapulco; Barra de Navidad, Jalisco; Manzanillo, Colima; Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Guerrero; Huatulco, Oaxaca; and Puerto Chiapas (in the Tapachula municipality of Chiapas). However, many are side trips for those hanging up north or stopping points for those heading ever further south. But recreational boaters all but ignore Mexico’s east coast. Marinas are absent on this coast with the exception of the Yucatan, mostly in the Cancun area with a couple in Progreso and Campeche.

According to Pat Rains author of Mexican Boating Guide, the main reason for this is that many Canadian and U.S.-East Coast boaters are more attracted to places like the Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Keys, not to mention all those wonderful Caribbean islands.

Ocean-based expat culture in Mexico is naturally quite strongly tied to season and weather, especially hurricane season, which extends from June to November on both coasts. Those who remain in Mexican waters during these months are either in or near large protected marinas and other “hurricane holes” — natural areas that afford protection in storms. Any movement in open water means keeping a wary eye on weather reports, especially for those with smaller vessels.

The other half of the year is nearly storm-free, so this allows boaters to more easily enjoy what Mexico has to offer, whether that is leisurely cruising the coast or parking their vessel somewhere to tour inland to places like the Copper Canyon, the monarch butterfly sanctuaries and Chiapas coffee plantations.

February and March seem to be the sweet spot of the boating season. Many settle in an area where they want to be for a while and where weather conditions favor organized events such as regattas. The largest of these include Sailfest in Zihuatanejo in February; the San Diego Yacht Club’s annual race from Ensenada to Puerto Vallarta.

There’s also the Mexorc and the Banderas Bay regattas, both in Puerto Vallarta in March. These events attract thousands of participants and spectators and often raise money for Mexico-based charities.

Boat in Los Cabos — International flag etiquette: the Mexican flag must be flown on the boat’s starboard side, and the vessel’s country’s flag flies on the port side. Pat Rains

For many, their Mexican boating season kicks off in October and November with flotillas or rally vessels traveling together from the California coast down to southern Baja and beyond. Going in groups makes the trip more fun and in some ways easier as there are few places for boats to stop between Ensenada and Los Cabos.

One such annual rally is the Cruise Underway to Baja (CUBA), from San Diego to La Paz, and the Baja Ha Ha, which runs from San Diego to Los Cabos.

Ocean-based recreational boating in Mexico has always been popular and continues to grow significantly. One important reason is the efforts of the Association of Mexican Marinas, which lobbied the Mexican government to overhaul the bureaucracy foreign boaters had to face. Previously, there were hours- and even days-long procedures not only to enter and leave Mexican territorial waters but also to dock in each port.

Today, Rains estimates that at least 2,000 boats enter Mexico on the Pacific side each season, with a respectable 1,500 for the Gulf. Although more facilities have been built and many coastal businesses cater to this demographic, there is a serious shortage of recreational marina space, a problem that Rains says will continue into the foreseeable future until there is some significant investment in port infrastructure.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

Tlayudas controversy sparks debate: are they really tlayudas?

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MND Staff

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March 23, 2022

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A Oaxacan tlayuda with cecina, tasajo and chorizo as the principal toppings.

When is a tlayuda not a tlayuda? When it is in fact a doradita, according to some social media users.

Tlayudas, a regional food from Oaxaca that are part of the antojitos (little cravings) family of tortilla-based snacks, are currently in the spotlight after footage of a woman selling them at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) on Monday went viral.

Some social media users asserted that the woman was not selling tlayudas but rather doraditas – antojitos also known as tlayudas that are sold on the streets of México state and Mexico City, especially on and around the zócalo, the capital’s central square.

A tlayuda oaxaqueño, also known as a clayuda, is a crispy, large, round tortilla heated on a comal (griddle) and topped with hot and cold ingredients such as lard, beans, meat (chorizo, tasajo and cecina are common), queso oaxaca (Oaxaca cheese), avocado, radish and salsa.

A doradita, also known as a huarache toluqeño, is an oval-shaped crispy blue corn tortilla commonly topped with cold ingredients including beans, chopped nopales (cactus pads), cilantro, cheese, onion and salsa roja or verde (red or green chili sauce).

¡Doraditas de nopales, en el zócalo! | México Lindo y Qué Rico | Cocina Delirante

Watch this video on YouTube

Despite the obvious differences between a tlayuda oaxaqueña and a doradita, the latter is also commonly called a tlayuda, and was referred to as such in many media reports about the entrepreneurship of the AIFA doradita vendor, who sold the snacks to hungry passengers who had few other food options at the new airport.

Linguist Yasnáya Elena Gil, a Oaxaca native and Mixe speaker, weighed in on the debate about whether doraditas can also be called tlayudas, writing on Facebook that both snacks can indeed be referred to as tlayudas.

“Both are tlayudas. A lot of people from the Valley of México have called what the woman was selling in the new airport tlayudas. It’s like mole – the first time that I ate mole in a town near Texcoco, [México state], I thought that it would be like the mole I always ate in Oaxaca but it wasn’t. It was very different because there are different kinds of mole just as there are different kinds of tlayudas. Both are tlayudas, calm down,” she wrote.

“One is not more original than the other, nor would it be the first time that someone uses the same name for …two things that are different in one aspect and similar in others,” Gil added.

She also said that the word tlayuda has been used interchangeably with doradita for at least four decades in central Mexico.

“So now it’s also its name, such are linguistic phenomena. … They are also tlayudas if there is a community of speakers that calls them that,” Gil wrote.

How the Mexico City tlayuda differs from that of Oaxaca. gourmet de mexico

According to a Spanish language text written by the academics Michael Swanton and Sebastián van Doesburg, the word tlayuda comes from the adjective tlayudo, “which today means strong, tough, resistant.”

“The (tortilla) tlayuda/clayuda, therefore, contrasts with the soft (tortilla) and the toasted (tortilla),” they wrote, citing a 1982 book – Tradiciones Gastronómicas Oaxaqueñas – by Ana María Guzmán de Vásquez Colmenares.

The academics also wrote that the first written use of the word tlayuda they could find was in a novel set in Oaxaca that was published in 1890. Author Arturo Fenochio Rosas wasn’t referring to the tlayuda oaxaqueña as we know it today but rather used the word tlayudas to describe tortillas that had gone stale and thus become hard.

Mexico News Daily

#Gritaputo is trending: will fans hold back the chant at Thursday’s game against US?

By

MND Staff

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March 23, 2022

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Mexican soccer fans — Mexican fans have a bad reputation for homophobic chants that many hope will improve at this Thursday's match. Twitter

A controversial soccer chant which forced the national team to play two matches in front of empty stadiums is trending on social media, sparking fears that it will reverberate around the Aztec Stadium in the grudge World Cup qualifier against the United States on Thursday.

In what has become Mexican soccer tradition, the homophobic slur “Eh, puto!” is shouted from the stands during matches, normally at the opposition goalkeeper after a goal kick. The Mexico Soccer Federation (FMF) has been trying to end the chant and sanctions by soccer’s world governing body FIFA meant the national team, often called El Tri, was forced to play in front of empty stadiums against Costa Rica and Panama earlier this year.

In an effort to police fans’ chanting, the FMF will implement a new system to track the some 50,000 fans in the stadium on Thursday and try to identify those who shout the slur.

ESPN reporter David Faitelson called on fans to avoid the chant. “The #Gritaputo [chant] has appeared as a trending topic [on social media] just hours before the game between Mexico and the United States. I hope there is awareness, respect and education. It’s just a football game. We are going to make ourselves known for our Mexican hospitality. The game is won, lost or drawn on the pitch,” he said.

If fans continue the chant on Thursday, it could hurt their teams chances of qualifying for November’s world cup in Qatar: any further punishment will see El Tri docked points. That would spell trouble for the side which is in third place, the last automatic qualification spot, four points ahead of Panama with three matches to play.

El Tri faces the U.S. at 8 p.m. on Thursday, a team they’ve already lost to three times in the space of a year. They lost 2-0 in a qualifying game in November and fell short twice to their closest rivals earlier in 2021 in other tournaments.

The U.S. is tied in the standings with Mexico with 21 points, but is ahead on goal difference in the Concacaf (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) standings. At the top of the standings is Canada with 25 points, meaning it has all but qualified.

El Tri faces Honduras away on March 27 before its final qualifying game at home to El Salvador on March 30.

The “Eh, puto!” chant has also caused problems in the national league: an angry crowd turned violent in December in Morelia, Michoacán, after a game was suspended.

In an unrelated act of soccer hooliganism, at least 26 people were injured during a massive brawl at a professional soccer match in Querétaro city earlier in March.

With reports from ESPN

Sargassum’s early arrival creates worries over Holy Week tourism

By

MND Staff

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March 23, 2022

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Many tourists who visited the Mexican Caribbean over the long weekend were greeted by the early arrival on some beaches of hefty quantities of the smelly seaweed known as sargassum.

Beach destinations in Quintana Roo saw an influx of tourists for the March 19-21 puente, an annual long weekend to mark the anniversary of the birth of former president Benito Juárez, but authorities have warned that this year’s early arrival of sargassum could cause problems for Holy Week, which starts on April 10.

Sixteen beaches in the state already have excessive amounts of sargassum, mainly in the south and on the Riviera Maya, according to the Sargassum Monitoring Network, which published an updated map on Wednesday. Beaches in the north of the state, including in and north of Cancún, are so far less affected.

The network said another map published on Monday by the University of South Florida showed a 1,000 kilometer swathe of sargassum between Jamaica and the Caribbean coast, particularly dense to the north of Honduras, at least some of which should arrive on Mexico’s Caribbean shores at the beginning of April.

The director of the federal office of maritime land zones (Zofemat), Hugo Uribe Nicolás, said the year’s first official sargassum collections started last weekend on Playa del Carmen’s central beaches. More than 50 volunteers and municipal workers collected over 80 tonnes of seaweed using tractors and wheelbarrows.

The sargassum situation as of 6:00 a.m. Wednesday.

However, the problem was made worse because the placement of sargassum barriers by the navy had been delayed due to bad weather. The head of the national sargassum strategy, Rear Admiral Alejandro López Zenteno, said that barriers would be installed in Puerto Morelos in the coming days, in Playa del Carmen in the first week of April and then in Tulum immediately after.

He added that a 500 meter barrier had been laid in Mahahual, which will be finished this week.

The director of sales and marketing at the Grand Hyatt Playa del Carmen, Marc André, said he was counting on federal authorities to keep the beaches clean. “The navy has barges to collect sargassum before it lands on the beaches … it causes discomfort, not only visually, but because of the smell,” he said.

The manager of a beach club in Tulum said the seaweed would affect visitor numbers. “Hopefully over the Easter holidays there will be no arrival of sargassum, because that affects the flow of local and foreign visitors,” he said.

Hotel occupancy in some of the state’s primary tourist destinations was around 85% and almost 400,000 tourists visited the Caribbean coast over the long weekend, according to the state Tourism Ministry. It posted photos of pristine beaches on Tuesday, explaining that not all of the beaches in the state are plagued by the seaweed.

Very little sargassum reached Quintana Roo beaches prior to 2014 but very large quantities of the weed have arrived annually since then. Climate change, pollution from fertilizers and changing ocean flows and currents are among the factors cited for the increased quantities, much of which floats up to the Caribbean sea from the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of South America.

With reports from Milenio, El Sol de México and Reportur

As vote on AMLO’s performance nears, violations of electoral silence law grow

By

MND Staff

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March 23, 2022

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A billboard declares, 'AMLO is not alone,' and urges citizens to vote on April 10.

President López Obrador and other politicians affiliated with the ruling Morena party have violated the electoral silence law several times in the lead-up to the referendum on the president’s leadership.

A so-called revocation of mandate referendum at which citizens will have the opportunity to vote in favor or against López Obrador completing his six-year term will be held April 10.

A veda electoral, a ban on political campaigning and advertising as well as promotion of the referendum that applies to politicians at all three levels of government, took effect February 4 and will remain in place until voting ends on the second Sunday of next month.

The Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) has confirmed six breaches of the ban that were first flagged by the National Electoral Institute (INE), which is organizing the April 10 vote.

Two related to remarks López Obrador made at his regular news conferences in February and two others related to the president’s dissemination of information regarded as political propaganda during a trip he made to Sonora the same month.

The INE complaints commission has also determined that the president and the federal government have violated the veda electoral several times this month with social media posts. Those breaches have not yet been confirmed by the TEPJF.

The INE has also detected breaches by Morena party senators, 18 governors (some of whom represent other political parties) and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is considered a leading candidate to succeed AMLO as president.

Sheinbaum said on Twitter Tuesday that she had received a second letter from the INE demanding that she take down social media posts it considers political advertising. She said she would comply with the order but added that she would challenge the ruling because she regards it as “biased and excessive.”

Sheinbaum received a similar order last month and was also warned for verbally promoting her government.

The Congress last week approved a decree that modified the electoral silence law to exempt spoken remarks made by officials, but the TEPJF ruled that the change doesn’t apply to the current electoral period because it was already underway when it was promulgated.

Nevertheless, López Obrador was in campaign mode while at the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport for its inauguration on Monday. He told citizens he would be voting on April 10, a remark that could be considered promotion of the referendum.

The opposition has its own billboards, claiming that the vote is a hoax and urging that citizens not vote.

The president didn’t speak at the official inauguration ceremony but other officials, including Sheinbaum, spoke in glowing terms about his stewardship of the military-built airport.

Political advertising featuring the slogan and hashtag #QueSigaAMLO (AMLO should continue) has also caught the attention of the INE, which estimated last week that almost 5.5 million pesos (US $272,000) had been spent on billboards, signs and flyers.

Suspecting that funding for the advertising didn’t come solely from everyday citizens, the INE said it was investigating whether any political parties were involved, which would be a violation of the law.

“While citizens have full liberty to express their position on the subject of the revocation of mandate process and to publicly support the president of the republic so that he continues in the position, it must be free of interference, public funding and partisan or government interventions,” the electoral authority said.

The news website Animal Político reported Monday that seniors have received telephone calls, political advertising and home visits urging them to vote in favor of López Obrador continuing as president so that the provision of welfare programs and free COVID-19 vaccines doesn’t cease. If Morena or another political party was involved, that would also constitute a breach of the veda electoral.

“There are a lot of … irregularities generated from the government, from those who promoted the consultation [on AMLO’s leadership],” said electoral issues expert Arturo Espinosa.

“They’ve sullied the [electoral] process. What do I mean by sullied? There hasn’t been fairness, there hasn’t been certainty, there has been intervention by public officials,” he said.

López Obrador has pledged that he will respect the result of the referendum, even if 40% of enrolled voters don’t participate, which would mean that its result is not binding. “If people vote for me to resign, I’ll leave,” he repeated last week.

Members of opposition parties have described the vote as a publicity stunt and say that AMLO will use a low turnout as another reason to attack the INE, an institution of which he is an outspoken critic.

López Obrador has criticized it for failing to adequately promote the referendum – an accusation INE president Lorenzo Córdova has rejected – and has spoken of plans to overhaul it.

The Supreme Court ruled last December that the electoral authority must stage the referendum in April, thwarting its postponement of the vote on the grounds that it didn’t have sufficient funds to organize it. Those funds are controlled by the Congress.

With reports from Animal Político

Report on tlayudas sold in new airport sparks racism, classism accusations

By

MND Staff

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March 23, 2022

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Azucena Uresti, President Lopez Obrador — A tweet journalist Azucena Uresti, left, made about a food vendor at the new Felipe Ángeles Airport on Monday triggered the ire of President López Obrador. Internet

President López Obrador on Tuesday accused a well-known journalist of racism and classism after she reported on the sale of tlayudas at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), which opened for business on Monday.

Tlayudas are originally a regional food of Oaxaca made with tortillas, but they are sold in other parts of Mexico as well.

At his morning news conference, López Obrador presented a Twitter post by television and radio presenter Azucena Uresti in which she published a video of a woman selling Mexico City-style tlayudas – large crunchy tortillas covered with toppings including beans, nopales and cheese – inside the army-built AIFA terminal on its opening day.

“A woman entered the arrivals hall of the AIFA and started to sell tlayudas to passengers in the terminal. Due to the lack of businesses selling food, long lines formed,” Uresti tweeted in a post read out by the president.

“In other words, a tlayuda isn’t food,” AMLO satirized. “That’s it. But it’s part of the ignorance of the cultural greatness of Mexico and feeling superior to others. That’s racism and classism,” he said.

Una señora se filtró a sala de llegadas del AIFA y comenzó a vender tlayudas a los pasajeros de la terminal. Debido a la falta de comercios que vendan alimentos, se formaron largas filas

VÍa @Radio_Formula
Israel Aldave y Óscar Jiménez pic.twitter.com/o6LdFs6eAX

— Azucena Uresti (@azucenau) March 21, 2022

The tweet that put a CDMX tlayuda vendor in the middle of a class war of words.

Rather than reporting on the gastronomic offerings at the new airport – which Uresti also did do during a broader report on the opening of the new airport that was broadcast on Milenio TV – López Obrador said, the journalist “should be saying, ‘It was a historic day. A great airport was inaugurated.’”

She should have included the opinion of billionaire businessman and civil engineer Carlos Slim, who said the airport was “well-built,” he added.

AMLO claimed that Uresti – whom he criticized earlier this month for her reporting on the International Women’s Day march – and some other journalists who reported on the sale of tlayudas at the airport did so with “disdain.”

“How little they know Mexico, the cultures of our country. … What do they want? … What are tortas called in the United States? Hamburgers,” he quipped. “It’s a lot of racism, classism and anger, isn’t it?”

López Obrador, who frequently makes verbal attacks on journalists, and the media more broadly, also said that he shared the opinion of leftist cartoonist José Hernández, who retweeted Uresti’s tlayuda post with the comment: “Unbelievable how the inauguration of the AIFA uncovered and exacerbated the most miserable classism.”

Uresti responded to the president with another Twitter post, asking him to identify which part of her previous tweet made her guilty of classism.

The food behind the furor: a *tlayuda*, made with large crunchy tortillas and many toppings. deposit photos

“I reported what was happening without qualifiers or judgment. By the way, Mr. President, I’m still waiting for the proof of everything you’ve accused me of,” she added.

López Obrador wasn’t the only high-ranking politician to make an accusation of discrimination with regard to commentary on the presence of informal vendors at the new airport on Monday, among whom were people selling AIFA and AMLO-related souvenirs.

Asked about criticism of their presence on Tuesday, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a close ally of the president, responded that it was “incredible,” given the festive mood at the opening.

“Of course the airport has to comply with regulations, but yesterday was a party day, and a lot of people showed up. From my perspective, it’s really a very discriminatory vision, and, obviously, the airport will function like any other airport. … But yesterday was a day of celebration, and that annoyed them [critics of the federal government] a lot,” she said.

The mayor also responded to criticism on social media of Mexicans who went to the airport on Monday to celebrate the opening of the public infrastructure project and show their support for the government and López Obrador, who chose to build the approximately US $4 billion AIFA after canceling the previous government’s larger, more expensive airport project — which he claimed was riddled with corruption.

Sheinbaum said that those of the opinion that people shouldn’t have gone to the airport have extremely “elitist” and “discriminatory” views. “It really is incredible,” she added.

With reports from El Universal

System to send earthquake warnings in the form of cell phone alerts

By

MND Staff

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March 23, 2022

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Seismic alerts by cell phone are coming soon. — Seismic alerts by cell phone are coming.

Earthquake alerts in Mexico could soon go direct to citizens’ cellphones, giving them more time to evacuate buildings and seek safety.

The federal organization that tracks earthquakes and runs the country’s early warning system, CIRES, announced that it plans to introduce cell phone alerts and said the warnings would reach citizens regardless of network operators, the quality of their internet connections and without the need for them to download an application.

The improved early warnings would be transmitted through the technology Cell Broadcast, which enables CIRES to send out bulk messages to cell phone users in a defined area.

Cell Broadcast technology is not affected by external factors such as saturation of telephone lines or natural disasters.

Cell Broadcast is already being used by at least 18 countries and members of the European Union.

CIRES said that other more well known modes of communication were too unreliable, and could endanger citizens if used to provide earthquake alerts. “Social networks … like other means of information on the internet, eventually suffer interruptions, delays and suspension in their services. This makes them unreliable for early seismic alerts,” it said in a statement.

CIRES revealed its intention to use Cell Broadcast on social media. “CIRES’ telecommunications capacity could be used to broadcast seismic warning through Cell Broadcast technology … Mexico is already working on it. It could put it into operation in the medium term,” a post read.

Mexico City and other states have reacted to warning sirens at least twice this month, but no major damage was reported from either event.

With reports from Reporte Indigo and Milenio

January’s federal government deficit highest in six years

By

MND Staff

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March 23, 2022

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Pemex gas pump — The deficit was much higher in January largely due to a government decision to cover most or all of gas and diesel taxes at the pump.

The government’s federal deficit in the first month of the year was the highest for any January in six years.

The deficit was 10.4 times greater than the public shortfall registered in the first month of 2021 and the biggest reported for any opening month since 2016.

Public spending for January totaled 765.83 billion pesos (US $37.12 billion, according to January average currency exchange rates), while revenues totaled 701.3 billion ($33.99 billion), leaving a deficit of 64.53 billion pesos ($3.13 billion).

The deficit was due to a stagnation in tax revenues, which fell almost 380 billion pesos or 0.2% in annual terms, according to the treasury. That was due in large part to a 56.3% fall in the collection of the Special Tax on Products and Services (IEPS) on petrol and diesel in January 2022 compared to that of January 2021 — following a federal decree for the tax to be lifted to shield consumers from high international prices, the treasury said.

The coordinator of the think tank México Evalúa’s public expenditure program, Mariana Campos, said the government only collected 47% of what it should have from the IEPS on petrol and diesel in January 2022.

Mexican financial analyst Ricardo Cantú — Financial analyst Ricardo Cantú said federal deficits have been a problem since 2008. File photo

On January 8 of this year, the federal treasury instituted a week-long discount on gas taxes, covering 62.25% of IEPS costs per liter of Pemex Magna gasoline bought between January 8 and January 14. This was followed by 100% coverage of IEPS taxes on regular gasoline between February 18 and March 18.

Value-added tax (IVA) collections also fell, declining 9.2% in annual terms.

Campos added that the fiscal deficit is likely to remain high throughout the year, especially if IVA collections do not recover. This could lead to budget cuts, she said.

Ricardo Cantú, founder of the Center of Economic and Budgetary Investigation (CIEP), said that despite the IEPS tax relief, buying gasoline and diesel remained unattractive due to high prices. “The IEPS on fuels has an impact, and if we remove it from revenues … given that prices are rising again, this causes us to collect even less,” he said.

Cantú added that since 2008, federal authorities have faced problems with the fiscal deficit but haven’t taken measures to tackle the issue.

“It’s necessary to make an adjustment in such a way that less is spent or more is collected,” Cantú said. “Although, our room to maneuver at the level of spending is much smaller than at the level of collections because there is spending that you cannot reduce — like pensions.”

Cantú concluded that without a change in course, the government’s burden would increase. “The problem is that if we don’t take responsibility today to spend less or to raise more, it means that we are leaving that problem for the future,” he said.

“That may be the next year, or it may even be until future generations.”

With reports from Reforma