State police mount an operation to arrest seven municipal officers from the highly-ranked San Pedro police force.
Even Mexico’s best police force is not immune to corruption.
Nuevo León state police on Tuesday arrested seven municipal officers from San Pedro Garza García on charges they abducted a man and handed him over to an organized crime group.
The police force of San Pedro, an affluent municipality in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, ranked as the best among forces from 70 cities in a survey conducted by the national statistics agency Inegi and published in July.
The seven officers allegedly kidnapped a man from his home on July 22 and handed him over to a criminal organization that sought a 2 million peso (US $100,000) ransom from his family. The criminals failed to obtain the money because their victim escaped.
According to the Nuevo León Attorney General’s Office, the victim called police on July 22 to report criminal damage at his San Pedro home. Officers went to the address where they proceeded to abduct the man. They held him for several hours before handing him over to an unidentified group of armed men. The criminals held the victim hostage for three days before he managed to escape.
However, the Inegi survey suggested that the force had put past problems behind it. In addition, the Institute for Security and Democracy published a study in February that found that the San Pedro police force ranked first in the country for “civic justice.”
The think tank found that its officers are well paid – they receive net salaries of at least 21,074 pesos (US $1,050) a month, have a well-documented work methodology and are accountable to citizens.
The route of the Maya Train has changed once again, the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) said on Tuesday: the train will no longer run through Mérida, Yucatán, but rather will stop at a station in Teya, outside the city.
The change comes just a week after Fonatur director Rogelio Jiménez Pons said the cost of the project would be one third higher than originally anticipated, due to a range of changes. One of those changes moved a planned station in Campeche city out of the capital after encountering resistance from residents.
The Mérida route change was made after a government analysis showed that the change would save construction time. The decision will “avoid problems related to construction and mobility within the city,” Fonatur said, adding that given the 2024 project completion goal, time and resources must be used efficiently.
Some Mérida residents celebrated the announcement that the station would be built outside the city, rather than at its original planned location in the area of Mérida known as La Plancha.
“It’s a victory for the neighbors. It shows that when people unite their voices, they can propose something good for the city, the state … It makes me very happy that all the work we did … has had a good outcome,” said Félix Rubio Villanueva, a member of the collective Gran Parque La Plancha. He said residents and faculty of the Autonomous University of Yucatán were among those who worked to keep the station out of Mérida.
Despite the rerouting, authorities said a future station within the city is not out of the question.
Morales, center, introduces her neighbors to some catchy Mexican tunes.
Some Brits have taken a liking to dancing in the street to Mexican rhythms, inspired by a Mexican Zumba instructor.
A woman from Monterrey, Nuevo León, has achieved online fame after posting videos of her lockdown dance classes with her neighbors in Manchester, England.
While living with her English husband-to-be in the British city in the first half of 2020, Tania Morales got her neighbors dancing by teaching them moves to such Mexican classics as La Chona, a song by the norteña band Los Tucanes de Tijuana, and La Vaca, a merengue classic.
She recently posted videos of the socially-distanced classes – held in the street of the Manchester neighborhood where she was living – to her TikTok account and several have gone viral. One showing Morales teaching Mancunians dance moves to La Vaca had 1.3 million views at noon on Wednesday while one featuring La Chona had more than 700,000 views.
The regia, as female natives of Monterrey are known, explained in another TikTok video how she came to give classes to her neighbors in Manchester.
Mexicana pone a ingleses a bailar La Chona
“My husband is English and last year, at the beginning of 2020, when he wasn’t yet my husband … I traveled to England and the plan was to be there for two weeks,” Morales said.
But the coronavirus pandemic started two days after she arrived and she ended up staying in Manchester for six months.
Morales explained that her mother-in-law likes to organize neighborhood events and proposed that she teach a Zumba class, a fitness program for which she is a certified instructor.
“My mother-in-law said to me: ‘Why we don’t we offer a Zumba class because everyone’s shut away,’” she said.
“… I don’t have to be asked to dance twice, do I? So every Sunday during the entire pandemic I gave Zumba classes. Obviously I put on La Chona, I put on La Bamba, I put everything on: salsa, merengue, bachata, even reggaeton,” Morales said. “… The truth is it was a very nice experience.”
Afghans arrive Tuesday at the Mexico City airport.
A plane carrying 175 Afghans, including journalists, activists and their families, arrived in Mexico Tuesday night, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The plane, which was one of the last to leave Kabul before the withdrawal of American troops, brought the fourth group of Afghan civilians granted entry into Mexico on humanitarian grounds. In addition to journalists and activists, 75 children were on the flight.
An anonymous source told Reuters that the group included journalists from the Afghan news outlets TOLO TV and Arman FM radio. The social media company Facebook also provided support for the airlift of Afghan journalists to Mexico, Reuters reported.
Last week, a womens’ robotics team and other journalists were among the Afghan refugees who found safe haven in Mexico, after New York Times staff contacted Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, looking for a place to accept Afghan journalists and others.
The flight that carried refugees to Mexico City on Tuesday was the first time Egypt Air had flown to Mexico. The Foreign Ministry said the airlift was coordinated with help from the Mexican embassies in Iran, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as the Egyptian government. Travel costs and accommodations for the refugees are being covered by private donors and nonprofits.
More Afghans are expected to arrive in Mexico in the coming days, the Foreign Ministry said.
Firefighters and Civil Protection personnel work at the site of the Mexico City Metro accident in May.
Repairs to Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro system, where an accident in May claimed the lives of 26 people, will take a year, the city government said Tuesday.
On the advice of the government’s Technical Advisory Committee, a range of repairs will be undertaken.
The entire elevated section of the line will be reinforced with metal beams while the part that collapsed – causing a train to plunge toward a busy road below – will be completely rebuilt.
The underground section of the line, the Metro system’s newest, will also undergo repairs including the replacement of some sections of track and an overhaul of the drainage system. Tracks along the entire line will be re-leveled, all electrical infrastructure will be rehabilitated and wooden sleepers will be replaced by concrete ones, among other repair projects.
Two companies involved in the construction of the so-called Golden Line, which opened in 2012, will complete the repairs and cover their costs. Carso Infrastructure and Construction, owned by billionaire businessman Carlos Slim, will complete the work on the elevated section of the line, while Ingenieros Civiles Asociados will take charge of the subterranean stretch.
The total cost of the repairs and the plan that will guide them will be announced next week. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that the government would only pay for repairs and maintenance work that was scheduled before the May 3 disaster occurred.
The entirety of the line, which runs across southern Mexico City from Mixcoac in the west to Tláhuac in the east, “will be safe and in a better condition than when we received it,” said Metro director Guillermo Calderón, who took charge of the system eight weeks after the accident occurred.
Sheinbaum said the repair work will begin as soon as possible. “… The topographic survey and a lot of other studies will begin this week,” she said.
President López Obrador said in late June that Line 12 would reopen within a year, but according to the Mexico City government’s timeline that won’t happen until late August 2022.
Sheinbaum said there was some possibility that the underground section of the line would begin operations before the elevated stretch, but noted that the proposition was unlikely because the line’s maintenance workshop is in Tláhuac.
“We would have to look for another place for maintenance; that’s why it’s important that both [sections] open at the same time,” she said.
Line 12, which serves mainly working class neighborhoods in the capital’s southeast, was built while Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was mayor of Mexico City. It suffered some structural damage when a powerful earthquake struck the capital in September 2017.
He suggested in June that the May 3 crash could be linked to maintenance, asserting that it was impossible to know whether his successor as mayor, Senator Miguel Ángel Mancera, “conducted all of the maintenance work required in the event of earthquakes of a certain magnitude.”
The central bank has raised its 2021 growth forecast for the Mexican economy by 0.2% to 6.2%.
The Bank of México (Banxico) said in its April-June quarterly report that the main reason for the upward forecast was higher than expected growth in the second quarter of the year.
“Furthermore, due to the advance in the vaccination process and a context of greater mobility and the opening of various [economic] activities, mainly in the service sector, the expectation that the gradual reactivation of economic activity will continue in the second half of the year is maintained,” the bank said.
Banxico also expects that the recovery of the economy in the United States will spur economic activity in Mexico, even as the country faces a large third wave of the coronavirus pandemic fueled primarily by the spread of the highly contagious delta strain.
Bank of México Governor Alejandro Díaz de León acknowledged that the pandemic continues to pose a risk to the economy but asserted that vaccination is offsetting that risk.
“We have two elements, a risk … that could affect the rhythm of economic activity and a mitigating influence that is the vaccination process,” he told a press conference on Monday.
The bank’s 2021 growth forecast is just below that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is predicting a 6.3% expansion.
The World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) are more pessimistic, with both forecasting growth of 5%. The Finance Ministry is expected to revise its growth forecast to 6% when it delivers its 2022 budget next week.
Mexico’s GDP slumped 8.5% last year as the pandemic and associated restrictions ravaged the economy. That was the country’s worst contraction since the Great Depression.
Banxico’s growth forecast for 2022 was unchanged at 3%, more than a point below the IMF prediction of a 4.2% expansion but on par with the World Bank outlook. The OECD is slightly more optimistic, predicting a 3.2% upturn next year.
The central bank also revised its outlook for job creation in 2021, predicting that as many as 840,000 jobs will be added this year, up from a previous maximum forecast of 570,000. As many as 700,000 positions could be added in 2022, the bank said, up from a maximum prediction of 590,000 three months ago.
With regard to inflation, Banxico expects that the rate at the end of 2022 will be 5.7% and predicts that the rate will remain above 5% in early 2022.
The Feast Day of San Blas' grand finale is an impressive, and not entirely safe, fireworks display that spins and sputters and occasionally topples over. photos by Yvonne Konar
Silhouetted against the inky night sky, the rickety metal structure some 25 meters tall is now fully ablaze.
Fireworks are spinning off in every direction over the town’s square, sending a shower of sparks onto the laughing crowd jammed together in celebration in the town’s plaza. Amid the craziness and the settling haze, a man taps us on the shoulder.
“Amigo,” he says, pointing upward. “Sometimes it topples over!”
Ah, Mexico! How we’ve missed you. It’s good to be back.
Like the long-lost friend or lover you’ve never forgotten, Mexico has welcomed us back with a bang. Her touch — the gentle probe and sensuous dance she offers — is hard to resist.
As part of the celebrations, a priest awaits in a boat to bless other boats owned by San Blas fishermen.
Located some 150 km north of Puerto Vallarta on the coastline in the state of Nayarit, San Blas is dubbed the Mexican Venice for the number of waterways that flow through and around it. Filled with lush growth, it’s a mecca for birdwatchers since many species use the sheltered waterways as rest stops on their migratory routes. We had arrived there the evening before a wild and crazy festival of water and fire known as the Feast Day of San Blas was to take place.
Truly, if the coastline of Mexico is her necklace, then places like San Blas are the gemstones that frame her voluptuous body. Filled with hidden coves and glistening bays, her shoreline dazzles and shines, showcasing stunning curves and offering passageways to hidden valleys.
Over breakfast on the morning of the festival, we watch workers build a tower in the town’s square. A young man named Hector responds to my sneeze with a “salud” (bless you).
“Gracias,” I reply.
He tells us that the metal structure will be used for the finale of the daylong celebration. “The whole day will be fun,” he says. “Don’t miss it!”
That afternoon, we gather back at the steps of the 300-year-old church along with locals, dancers in indigenous dress and musicians. Everyone is waiting for Día de San Blas to begin.
Suddenly, the church doors open up and the local priest walks out. Behind him, parishioners carry a two-meter-tall statue of the town’s patron saint, San Blas, down the steps.
The procession winds its way through the crowded spectator-filled streets. We join in and are jostled along as the parade heads toward the town’s docks. There, the priest and entourage climb aboard a waiting shrimp boat.
Around us, people are frantically searching for seats on various waiting panga boats. The narrow channel that heads to the ocean is awash with boats, many loaded heavy with passengers. All are following the lumbering shrimp boat making its way out of the protected passageway.
As we crowd onto the dock’s edge, wondering how to get our own ride, our friend Hector appears.
“Hola, mis amigos canadienses! Are you wanting to get on a boat?”
“Sí!” we reply.
The writer Shayne Konar, right, with Yvonne Konar.
Immediately, Hector turns his attention to one of the captains docked on the rocky shoreline. “… and my Canadian cousins,” he finishes, pointing to us. We score rides with Hector on a waiting speedboat.
More suited for summer-lake fun than an oceangoing adventure, the approximately seven-meter-long boat has managed to squeeze 12 of us on board. The only person wearing a lifejacket continually clasps her hands in prayer. At that point, the only thing I’m believing in is that we have a Titanic-size chance of going under.
The ragtag flotilla that’s assembled on the water looks like some madcap rescue operation.
Craft of all sizes — some decorated, many overcrowded, most without lifejackets and stuffed with families and grandmas holding babies — chase after the lumbering shrimp boat. We take the bow seats and are immediately drenched by the rolling seas crashing over into our boat.
We start bailing as prayers grow louder. I’m praying we won’t be soon going under. But if there needs to be a rescue, boats are literally within an oar’s length of us.
Our destination is a rock outcropping some two kilometers offshore, white from the droppings of nesting birds. We slowly gather around the rugged poop-stained peak in the middle of the bay.
Boats dart in every direction, bouncing over the waves. Someone has managed to scale the 30-meter-high rock and seems prepared to jump off. Everyone jockeys in closer for a better view.
Shouts of “Jump, jump!” fill the air along with “uno, dos, tres!” The crowd waits in anticipation for the circus-like finish to the mayhem.
Our captain senses that retreat might be the wiser of directions. Could it be the constant bailing or the smoke rising from the overworked motor that has him frowning? We turn and start back toward shore.
Now, as if sinking in the high seas didn’t seem like enough fun, our captain decides that getting crushed should do the trick. We head toward the growing line of boats waiting to receive a dousing of holy water from the priests aboard. This is a traditional blessing for another prosperous and safe fishing season.
It is almost our end as we struggle to come alongside the much larger shrimp boat. Our bow end bounces squarely into the side of the towering steel-hulled shrimper. The vessel’s booms loom scant meters above our heads, swinging from side to side.
Our captain manages to avoid one disaster, only to have the stern end of our undersized and badly overloaded craft smash off the side of the shrimp boat and narrowly miss getting caught in the larger boat’s wake. Feeling blessed at having avoided a high seas catastrophe, we chug back to shore.
Even the religious procession in honor of San Blas is a lively affair, with musicians and dancers.
On the dock, we say goodbye to Hector and promise to return in the evening for the finale.
That night, we crowd into the town’s plaza with hundreds of townspeople to watch the fireworks display.
The 25-meter tower of incendiary items seems secured by ropes tied to palm trees standing in each corner of the square. Fireworks line its sides. Spinning wheel designs and a fireworks-filled wire in the shape of a butterfly at the tower’s top await their moment.
The crowd roars as a Roman candle rockets from the church steeple. The fireworks on the tower are lit.
Children dance under the sparks and around the tower as if enjoying a warm rain from a summer’s night storm. Without safety barriers, people edge closer.
Above their heads, fireworks continue to screech and whirr, climbing ever higher up the tower. It is a spectacular show of light, smoke and noise. Through the smoke now settling over the plaza, Hector just nods and points to the tower.
We have our escape route, just in case.
The finale to Día de San Blas sees the butterfly ablaze, spraying a mammoth-sized shower of sparks in a wide arc.
The craziness of the night even extends to the church as fireworks explode down one wall and a last crescendo of Roman candles are sent from atop the steeple. Hector laughs. “Sí, no problemo!”
Sí!
This is the Mexico we look for.
From the fragrance of her land, to a stroke of her finger on the back of our necks, to the joyous laughter of children and smiles of families visible through the settling smoke of a fireworks display, this is a passionate, humid land, the people proud, kind and generous.
The preparation of the fireworks tower for that evening is a complex affair.
It’s a place where locals like Hector stop to talk to you and, if you are lucky, find you a seat on a boat ride. It’s a place with adventure and heart.
Sí, Mexico, no es problema!
Shayne and Yvonne Konar are retired teachers who have traveled extensively with only carry-on packs. To read more about their adventures check out their blog,Backpacks and Flipflops.
August was easily the worst month of the pandemic in Mexico in terms of case numbers with more than half a million new infections reported.
Paradoxically, estimated active case numbers have been on the wane for a month and there are “clear signs” that the third wave of the pandemic is receding, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday.
The Health Ministry reported 11,146 new cases on Tuesday, lifting the total for August to 504,158, or an average of 16,263 per day. The accumulated tally for the entire pandemic currently stands at 3.35 million.
Reported case numbers were 15% higher in August than January, which was the worst month for both case numbers and COVID-19 deaths.
An additional 835 COVID-19 fatalities were reported Tuesday, increasing the August total to 18,420, or an average of 594 deaths per day. The official death toll stands at 259,326, a figure the government has accepted is a significant undercount.
Despite the record case numbers reported this month, COVID deaths were 44% below the January peak, indicating that vaccination is saving lives.
There are currently 105,632 active cases across the country, according to Health Ministry estimates, a 15% decline compared to a week ago.
López-Gatell, who has led the government’s pandemic response, said the estimated number of active cases began to fall a month ago, even as Mexico was recording some of its highest daily case totals since the coronavirus was first detected here in early 2020.
“As we have been saying during the last five or six weeks, the epidemic curve of estimated cases started to decline a month ago,” he told reporters at President López Obrador’s morning press conference.
“Today we have clear signs that [the third wave] is in a process of reduction and we anticipate that this reduction will continue throughout the coming weeks,” López-Gatell said.
“… At the moment, 30 of the 32 federal entities have a declining epidemic curve,” he said, adding that the figure is up from 17 a week ago.
While it would appear incongruent that the number of active cases was able to decline during a month in which a record number of new infections were reported, the government has long said that not all of the cases reported on a daily basis were necessarily detected that day. Therefore, some of the cases reported in August would actually have been detected in July, or even earlier in the pandemic.
The deputy minister also said Tuesday that hospitalizations of COVID patients are also trending downward in 30 of 32 states.
In other COVID-19 news:
• Serious COVID-19 illness and death is not a major threat to children, López-Gatell said Tuesday.
The coronavirus point man presented data that showed that accidents were the leading cause of death among Mexican children in all age brackets last year with the exception of babies aged less than one year, for whom the most common cause of death was birth complications.
COVID-19 ranked as the 10th most common cause of death among babies aged less than one; ninth among children aged one to four; 10th among children aged five to nine and 10 to 14; and seventh among adolescents aged 15 to 19.
“The key message for mothers and fathers is that COVID-19, compared with the reality that all minors live, is a very low, very small, cause of mortality, … 10 or 20 times lower [than accidents],” López-Gatell said.
• Puebla and Hidalgo currently have the highest occupancy rates for general care beds in COVID wards, federal data shows. Just over 70% of such beds are in use in both states. Seven other states have rates above 60%. They are Tlaxcala, Durango, Oaxaca, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco and Nuevo León.
Colima is the only state where more than 70% of beds with ventilators are taken. The occupancy rate in the small Pacific coast state is 71%. States with rates above 60% are Tabasco, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Jalisco and Nuevo León.
• Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the total number of vaccine doses received by Mexico would exceed 100 million on Tuesday. “The next goal to achieve [is to] end 2021 with 150 million doses,” he said.
Just over 84.5 million vaccine doses have been administered, according to the most recent data. The Health Ministry said Monday that 57.5 million people, or 64% of all adults, have received at least one dose. Of that number, 33.6 million are fully vaccinated, meaning that they have had both required doses of a two-shot vaccine or were inoculated with the single-shot CanSino or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Mexico City, Quintana Roo, Querétaro, Sinaloa and Baja California have the highest vaccination rates in the country with 80-92% of all adults having had at least one dose.
• Abut 50 people staged a protest in downtown Querétaro city on Sunday against coronavirus restrictions, rules requiring the use of face masks and the application of COVID-19 vaccines.
“We want to breathe” and “We want freedom” were among the slogans chanted by people who participated in a protest march from the central square to a nearby park.
The protesters espoused vaccine conspiracy theories such as one that claims they contain microchips and cause human magnetism. They also asserted that COVID-19 vaccines are causing large numbers of deaths.
The protest was held in response to a call on Facebook from a group called Abogados por la Verdad México, or Mexico Truth Advocates. The group has also summoned people to protest in other states around the country.
Six-year-old Andrea Ortiz was one of the millions of students who attended classes Monday in Mexico.
Fewer than half of Mexico’s 25 million pre-school, primary school and middle school students returned to the classroom on Monday, according to preliminary data, but the federal education minister believes that the real number of returnees is much higher.
Education Minister Delfina Gómez said Tuesday that schools reopened in 30 states with the only exceptions being Sinaloa and Baja California Sur due to the lingering presence of Hurricane Nora.
Preliminary data showed that 119,497 schools were open on Monday and more than 970,000 teachers and just over 11.4 million students – about 45% of the total – were in attendance, she said.
However, more than 20 million students were expected to have returned to the classroom by Tuesday, Gómez said.
Face masks in place, students make their way to school Monday morning.
“… There are children who didn’t show up yesterday but they’ll turn up today,” she told reporters at President López Obrador’s morning press conference, explaining that some schools are only receiving half their student body on any given day.
“… This week we’re going to be in the data confirmation process,” Gómez said. “We don’t want to give erroneous data, we want to give very precise data.”
The education minister said that she spoke to some of the students who returned to classes on Monday and their overwhelming emotion was one of excitement.
“Some little pre-schoolers said: ‘Is this a school?’ because they’d never been. Others were in third grade when [schools closed], … now they’re in fifth grade. So it was a very exciting situation,” Gómez said.
Many will have a lot of catching up to do now they are back in the classroom.
Gómez said authorities will also seek to get students who dropped out of school during the pandemic back to the classroom.
“In that the participation of UNICEF will be very important, it has been supporting us [in that area],” she said.
Despite the risk of coronavirus outbreaks in schools as Mexico faces a delta variant-driven third wave of the pandemic, Gómez expressed confidence that the return to in-person learning will be a success.
“If each of us does what he or she has to do – parents, teachers, authorities – … I believe there will be very good results,” she said.
The new state-owned LP gas distribution company began operations in Mexico City on Tuesday.
Pemex CEO Octavio Romero announced that Gas Bienestar (Well-being Gas) would begin delivering 20 and 30-kilogram cylinders of gas in Iztapalapa, a sprawling, working class borough in the capital’s east.
Romero said Gas Bienestar, created as a new division of the state oil company, will soon begin operations in Azcapotzalco, Gustavo A. Madero, Milpa Alta, Xochimilco and Tláhuac and subsequently expand to other Mexico City boroughs.
Appearing via video link from Iztapalapa, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Gas Bienestar will be operating in all 16 boroughs by January. Romero said the aim is to be delivering gas to 1.2 million Mexico City homes by that month.
Gas deliveries have begun in Iztapalapa.
That number of customers would give the new distributor 43% market share in the capital.
A three-day distribution trial that concluded Monday demonstrated strong demand for gas supplied by Gas Bienestar, with 98% of just over 9,500 available tanks sold.
Announcing the creation of the new state company last month, López Obrador said that gas prices were particularly high in the capital and for that reason Gas Bienestar would begin operations there before expanding to other parts of the country. Prices across Mexico have risen “unjustifiably” beyond inflation due to a lack of competition in the market, the president said.
But Gas Bienestar will sell LP gas – which most Mexican households use for cooking – at low prices, he pledged.
Romero said Tuesday the Pemex division will sell a 20-kilogram cylinder of gas for 400 pesos (US $20) this week while a 30 kilogram cylinder will cost 600 pesos. Those prices are almost 11% below this week’s price ceilings set by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
In addition to low prices, the Pemex chief outlined three other benefits of purchasing gas from Gas Bienestar. Firstly, every cylinder sold will contain exactly the amount of gas it should, Romero said.
“To guarantee that there is no milking from these tanks, they’ll have an airtight seal,” he said.
Secondly, Gas Bienestar will deliver gas in new cylinders and rehabilitate the old ones it collects by removing rust, changing their valves, painting them and labeling them with the state company’s logo, Romero said. Cylinders that can’t be rehabilitated will be removed from circulation, he said.
Thirdly, gas supplied by Gas Bienestar will last longer than other gas, the CEO claimed. “We’re taking care of the quality of the gas. We’ve done tests against other brands and the Bienestar gas has greater calorific power,” Romero said.
