The U.S. government on Wednesday extended the closure of land borders with Mexico and Canadato nonessential travel such as tourism through August 21 even as officials debate whether to require visitors to have received a Covid-19 vaccine.
The latest 30-day extension by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) came after Canada announced on Monday it will start allowing in fully vaccinated U.S. visitors on August 9 for nonessential travel after the Covid-19 pandemic forced a 16-month ban that many businesses have called crippling.
DHS said on Wednesday it “is in constant contact with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably.”
One difficult question for President Joe Biden’s administration is whether to follow Canada’s lead and require all visitors to be vaccinated for Covid-19 before entering the United States, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been hopeful that the U.S. would agree to discontinue the border closure, said bilateral talks would continue to that end. It also noted that the accelerated pace of vaccinations in the border area will help speed the process.
The White House plans a new round of high-level meetings this week to discuss the travel restrictions and the potential of mandating Covid-19 vaccines for visitors, but no decisions have been made, the sources said.
The review comes amid increasing concern among U.S. officials about the Delta variant. U.S. health officials have reported sizable increases in Covid-19 cases and deaths, with outbreaks occurring in parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
The White House last month launched interagency working groups with the European Union, Britain, Canada and Mexico to look at how to eventually lift travel and border restrictions.
Businesses in Canada and the United States, particularly the travel and airline industries, have pushed for an end to restrictions on nonessential travel between the two countries, which were imposed in March 2020 early in the pandemic.
Since then, the land border has remained closed to all nonessential travel.
Unlike international air passengers, travelers crossing U.S. land borders do not need negative Covid-19 tests.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, a business group, criticized the latest U.S. extension. It said the U.S. move “flies in the face of both science and the most recent public health data.”
“It’s hard to see how allowing fully vaccinated Canadians to enter the U.S. poses a public health threat when travel within the U.S. is unrestricted,” the organization said.
The United States has continued to extend the restrictions on Mexico and Canadaon a monthly basis since March 2020.
The U.S. land border restrictions do not bar U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents returning to the United States. As in prior extensions, DHS said it could still seek to amend or rescind the restrictions before August 21.
Armed thieves attacked a privately-owned oil platform in the south of the Gulf of Mexico late Monday and made away with equipment and personal belongings of rig workers.
Navy sources told the newspaper Milenio that at least five armed men arrived aboard two speed boats at the Sandunga oil platform, located in the Bay of Campeche and owned by the company Goimar.
They boarded the platform and stole tools, supplies, self-contained breathing apparatuses, camera-equipped diving helmets, diving suits, flippers, boots and workers’ personal belongings.
Rig workers, who reported hearing gunshots, took refuge in a secure area of the platform as the robbery took place, Milenio reported. They notified the navy of the heist and two vessels were deployed to search for the thieves.
The search continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning but the thieves and their boats were not located.
Attacks on oil platforms by modern-day pirates are common in the Gulf of Mexico. Rigs owned and operated by state oil company Pemex have been targeted on numerous occasions.
“We fear for our lives,” Martín Gómez, who has worked on state oil company rigs for almost three decades, said last year.
A 2020 study found that the response by the navy to oil rig attacks is usually slow, with vessels taking up to seven hours to reach the crime scene, giving pirates plenty of time to escape.
That was the case on Monday night, according to the head of a consulting firm that specializes in merchant marine matters.
“We ask the maritime authority [the navy] … to carry out permanent patrols and stay in the [Bay of Campeche] area so that the response time is not four hours,” said Faustino Suárez Rodríguez.
The company's factory in Ramos Arizpe will be expanded this year.
U.S. electrodomestics company Whirlpool has announced a US $120-million investment at its plant in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila.
Most of the amount will be used to expand the manufacturing facility by 30,000 square meters by 2024, increasing capacity for a new production line for french door refrigerators and creating 1,000 new jobs. The factory currently employs 2,945 workers.
Whirlpool plans to produce 300,000 of the french door refrigerators per year once the line is in operation.
The remaining $10 million will boost production of the company’s side by side fridges by about 10% from 2022, directly generating 130 jobs.
The investment takes the company’s total spend in Mexico this year to over $150 million following a $28 million commitment to plants in Apodaca, Nuevo León, and Celaya, Guanajuato, which will create an estimated 280 jobs.
Regional president Juan Carlos Puente said developing local economies is a priority for the company. “For Whirlpool it is essential to contribute to the development of the regions in which we are present. We are delighted to be able to carry out this important investment project … that will allow us to provide the best quality of electrical appliances, grow as a company and create jobs that support the development of the inhabitants of the region,” he said.
However, Puente added that most of what is produced at the plant would be destined for foreign shores. “A large amount of what we are doing in Ramos Arizpe is for export, for the United States and Canada; over 90% of this investment will go there … We export to more than 100 countries from here and we want to continue expanding our horizons,” he said.
Whirlpool is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenues of close to $20 billion. It was founded in Michigan in 1911 and entered Mexico in 2002.
Alfaro, left, called López-Gatell 'completely irresponsible.'
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro on Tuesday took aim at federal Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell for a lack of flexibility with regard to the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.
After a meeting with federal officials at the National Palace in Mexico City, Alfaro asserted that the pandemic czar is refusing to alter the vaccination strategy to deploy a greater number of vaccines to locations that need them most due to growing coronavirus outbreaks and rising hospitalizations.
He cited Puerto Vallarta, a resort city on the Jalisco coast, as one example of a city to which greater numbers of vaccines should be dispatched.
The governor claimed that López-Gatell’s “stubbornness” was a barrier to an effective vaccination plan that can be changed depending on the coronavirus situation in different parts of the country.
An effective plan, Alfaro charged, is one in which inoculation is “concentrated on where the [coronavirus] problem is growing” in order to protect people’s health and the economy. But the federal government’s pandemic chief is not interested in modifying the current plan, he said.
Coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico as reported by day. milenio
“López-Gatell’s stubbornness is absolute, I said it to the Interior Minister [Olga Sánchez] as well. We believe it’s unacceptable that we’re continuing to see this attitude from the deputy minister, … who has been like this during the entire pandemic. He truly is a completely irresponsible person,” Alfaro said.
He said that he would continue to insist on the need for states to be involved in decisions about where vaccines should be deployed. Hospitalizations of Covid patients are on the rise in Puerto Vallarta but there is no plan to ramp up vaccination in the city, the governor lamented.
“It truly is a matter of common sense. … In Vallarta, for example, the number of hospitalizations shot up and we’re suggesting that we can focus vaccination efforts on this very important tourist destination … because the level of risk there is greater,” Alfaro said.
“The response [from the federal government] is that there is no response, we think that is unacceptable and … it once again proves not just the kind of official this man [López-Gatell] is but also the kind of person he is,” he said.
Alfaro, an independent governor formerly affiliated with the Citizens Movement party, has been an outspoken critic of the federal government’s management of the pandemic, and claimed a year ago that López-Gatell allocated a red light to Jalisco on the coronavirus stoplight map “because he felt like it.”
He has also accused the deputy minister of making politically motivated decisions in his management of the pandemic and asserted that his “impulses” have cost a lot of lives.
López-Gatell, a Johns Hopkins University-trained epidemiologist, has faced widespread criticism for his pandemic response but has retained the backing of President López Obrador.
Meanwhile, Mexico is amid a worsening third wave of the pandemic as the Delta strain of the virus circulates in many if not most states. The federal Health Minister reported 13,853 new cases on Wednesday and 341 additional Covid-19 deaths.
The accumulated totals stand at 2.67 million cases and 236,810 fatalities, while there are almost 86,000 active cases across the country, according to Health Ministry estimates. Despite the recent surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths are down in comparison with the first two waves due to vaccination.
The Health Ministry reported Tuesday that more than 565,000 doses were administered Monday, lifting the total number of shots given to 55.1 million. Just over four in 10 adults – 43% – have received at least one vaccine shot and the majority of older Mexicans are fully vaccinated.
The Economist column was critical of the August 1 referendum at which Mexicans will be asked, in a roundabout way, whether the five most recent past presidents – blamed by President López Obrador for all manner of problems the country faces today – should be investigated for corruption.
The referendum question – translated by The Economist as: Are you in agreement or not that appropriate actions in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework be carried out in order to undertake actions of clarification of political decisions taken in the past by political actors, aimed at guaranteeing justice and the rights of the possible victims? – is one that “might have been devised by Cantinflas, a comic actor who turned the Mexican taste for circumlocution into an absurdist art form,” the British newspaper said.
“This is what President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants Mexicans to decide in a national referendum on August 1st. Decoded, what it means is, should he be authorized to orchestrate a kind of unofficial show trial of his five most recent predecessors and their subordinates?”
The Economist asserted that holding a popular vote on whether someone should be prosecuted or not is a “travesty of the rule of law,” although it acknowledged that the Supreme Court, headed by an ally of the president, “narrowly ruled that the referendum was constitutional but softened the question to its current convoluted form.”
The newspaper said the staging of the referendum is “even more surreal” given that López Obrador, known commonly as AMLO, has indicated that he won’t vote because he prefers to look forward rather than dwell on the past – even though he frequently rails against his predecessors in his lengthy morning press conferences.
The president has said that he will respect the will of the people and seek to hold his predecessors to account for alleged acts of corruption if that’s what citizens want. The referendum will have binding force if 40% of eligible voters participate and a majority supports it. But whether the 40% threshold will be achieved is unclear as opposition parties are boycotting the vote.
The Economist said the referendum “serves several of the president’s purposes.”
“He is fond of consultative votes. They support his claim to take more notice of the people than his predecessors did. He has used them to provide backing for decisions he wanted to take anyway, such as the cancellation of a half-built new airport in Mexico City,” the column said.
“… The vote also confirms that, in fighting corruption, AMLO prefers theater, which he can direct, over substance,” The Economist said.
In Le Monde, the story ran under the headline, ‘Mexico under the sprawling influence of mafiocracy.’
It argued that López Obrador – despite his own grandiose proclamations – has failed in the fight against corruption. The newspaper quoted María Amparo Casar of Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, who said: “Corruption in Mexico is in robust good health. There is talk against corruption but there is no anti-corruption policy.”
Citing the results of last month’s elections, at which the ruling Morena party lost its supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies but retained control of the lower house with the support of its allies, The Economist acknowledged that López Obrador remains popular but claimed that he is “no longer invincible.”
“Many Mexicans continue to think he is on their side. But they are suffering from the pandemic, the government’s mishandling of it and the related economic slump, as well as unabated violent crime. To distract attention from policy failures, their president needs all the Cantinflan spectacles of political theater that he can muster,” it concluded.
Meanwhile, the Le Monde report focused on Mexico’s security situation with particular emphasis given to political violence in the lead-up to the June 6 elections. It looked at the case of Alma Barragán, a Citizens Movement party candidate in Moroleón, Guanajuato, who was murdered 12 days before the election.
One of Barragán’s sons has links to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Le Monde said, citing an investigation it said was slated to remain confidential.
“Was Alma Rosa Barragán a narco-candidate or was there an attempt to discredit her to justify the murder?” security expert David Saucedo questioned in an interview with the French newspaper.
Le Monde noted that more than 140 politicians and candidates were murdered during the election period and that criminal organizations were able to influence the electoral process and its results.
The Le Monde report also cited a United States military official’s claim earlier this year that 30-35% of Mexico’s territory is controlled by drug cartels. Among the episodes of violence it recounted was the wave of cartel attacks in Culiacán in October 2019 that were triggered by the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, a son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
The newspaper’s “mafiocracy” headline was derived from an interview with United States-based organized crime expert Edgardo Buscaglia.
“Citizens’ votes have less weight than the influence of the mafias [drug cartels],” he told Le Monde.
“… To influence the [election] results, the drug cartels have instilled fear and spilt blood, methods that … are only the visible part of Mexican narco-politics, whose expanding networks give this federal republic the air of a mafiocracy,” the report said.
Sam’s Club is offering shoppers a new feature to pay for their purchases using their phone and avoid the need to wait in line at the cashier.
Scan&Go has been in operation for more than three years in U.S. stores but has now arrived in Mexico to coincide with the the supermarket chain’s 30th anniversary in the country.
The feature can be accessed through the Sam’s Club application for iOS and Android. Shoppers use their smartphone camera to capture product barcodes, which will show information about the product and its price.
Once finished, shoppers simply click on the payment option to make the purchase. The app displays a code that is presented to a staff member at the exit.
The feature is expected to speed up the payment process for customers and to reduce contact with other people, reducing the risk of catching or spreading Covid-19.
Sam’s Club is owned by supermarket giant Walmart and has 165 locations in Mexico.
A Zapotec teenager won first prize at the World Innovative Science Fair in Indonesia with a short film about chauvinism.
Azul Sicarú Morales Cruz, 14, from Juchitán, Oaxaca, presented the film Micro-chauvinism, A Reality in Front of Our Eyes with a virtual presentation on July 13 in the social science category. She won the opportunity to participate after winning the Mexican International Innovation, Science and Technology Fair.
The 3-minute 27-second short film was written, directed and edited by Morales over a month. She had the help of her two maternal grandparents, who appear as actors.
The young director said she gained an interest in digital content from the age of 11. In her spare time she took online courses on social media, video editing, digital marketing and digital production, and worked alongside her father on his news website covering the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Morales explained how she developed the project, and the difficulties she faced. “I studied micro-chauvinism. I learned directing strategies online, how to make a short film and other techniques … The most difficult thing was recording my grandparents, because they are not actors,” she said.
Micromachismos ¿Son Micro? - Micromachistmo
She explained it was difficult to have her grandparents portray the subtle way in which men can exercise psychological control over women, to the point that they destroy their self-esteem.
The young director hopes that her short film will be shared on digital media to raise awareness among young people about the different forms that micro-chauvinism takes.
Situated in the state of Chiapas, around 220 kilometers from San Cristóbal de las Casas and close to Guatemala, Palenque is considered one of the most important Maya cities of the Classic Period, between A.D. 250 and 900.
UNESCO recognized the “Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque” as a World Heritage Site in 1987. The archaeological zone, which has many well-preserved structures, is amid lush green surroundings and is perhaps one of the most beautiful ancient Maya cities in present-day Mexico.
The city’s original name has been identified as Lakamha’ (the place of the great waters). It also had several other names, including Na Chán (city of snakes). The territory under its control was called B’aakal (bone).
The modern name of Palenque derives from the nearby 16th-century settlement of Santo Domingo de Palenque.
Before it grew into a powerful Maya city, Palenque started out as a village around 150 B.C. The city’s golden era is considered to have been during A.D. 600–900, when the structures in the city’s center were constructed.
The Temple of the Foliated Cross is just one part of a complex of temples.
Palenque eventually became the capital of a dynasty that ruled a large area of the present-day states of Chiapas and Tabasco. The famed king, K’inich Janaab’ Pakal, called “Lord Sun Shield” and other terms, belonged to this dynasty. He ruled for 68 years in Palenque from age 12.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) says nine males and two females ruled in Palenque from A.D. 345–603.
As you enter the archaeological zone, you will feel the refreshing surroundings of the forest, despite the usually hot climate. Near the entrance is an unexcavated temple.
Across from this mound is a series of temples where the burials of elites were discovered. To the west is the Temple of the Skull, named after a stucco relief — most likely of a rabbit — on a pillar of one of the entrances. A tomb with over 700 jade pieces was discovered there in an older structure below the temple.
To the east is another notable temple, where the famous Tomb of the Red Queen was discovered. INAH has identified her as King Pakal’s wife, Ixik Tz’aka’ab Ajaw (Lady Ruler of Generations).
Archaeologists discovered the tomb inside one of the substructures in 1994, as well as a jade mask covering the queen’s face, accessories on her body and other rich funerary offerings. The contemporary “Red Queen” name comes from the cinnabar — a red mineral discovered on her remains and the offerings and in the sarcophagus.
The Red Queen’s remains now reside next to the site at the Alberto Ruz Lhuillier Museum, named after the Mexican archaeologist who in 1952 discovered the burial site of King Pakal the Great here.
Further east is the widely photographed Temple of the Inscriptions, which contains Pakal’s sarcophagus in a burial chamber Lhuillier discovered 25 meters below the temple floor. This nine-level temple pyramid is named after three limestone slabs with hieroglyphic text. There are stucco reliefs on the pilasters to the front of the building.
The sarcophagus is said to depict scenes that include what may be a recreation of King Pakal’s death. His jade funerary mask and other accessories are displayed in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. A replica of the tomb is, however, located at the Palenque site museum.
Climbing this temple is not allowed, and the tomb was closed to the public for preservation.
North of the Temple of the Inscriptions is a beautiful square called the Central Plaza. You can observe the surroundings of the ancient city from here.
East of the plaza is a structure known as The Palace, a large complex constructed on a low platform with many buildings, courtyards and other spaces. The palace complex has many relief carvings and sculptures.
A sculpture from the North Group, which has five temples on a platform.
It is identified as having been an elite residential structure and an administrative and ceremonial center. The four-story tower around the center of the palace is believed to have been an observatory.
One of the palace’s many rooms — called House E — is believed to be King Pakal’s throne room. It has a stone carving called the Oval Palace Tablet depicting his crowning. Another of the palace’s notable sections is a courtyard with relief carvings of prisoners. During our visit, the palace was cordoned off to visitors.
Also by the palace, you can get a glimpse of Palenque’s water system. To the east is the Otulum stream, which begins in the mountains and runs through the site. The stream enters an underground water channel built near the palace.
Southeast of the palace is the Cross Complex, which has three temples situated around a plaza that were built by King Pakal’s son, King K’inich Kan B’ahlam II, called LordSerpent-Jaguar II. You may hear the fascinating roars of nearby howler monkeys while exploring this area.
The three temples, each dedicated to a different deity of the triad, have shrines symbolizing steam baths — which were places of birth. Hence the temples are believed to symbolize the birthplace of each god. The three temples also have reliefs thought to depict scenes involving King Serpent-Jaguar.
East of the plaza is the Temple of the Foliated Cross. This temple has a stone tablet with a cross-like detail and other figures. North of the plaza is the largest structure within the Cross Complex: the Temple of the Cross. One of the two stone tablets inside is said to depict a god smoking tobacco.
West of the plaza is the Temple of the Sun, which features a picturesque roof comb — the crowning structure of a pyramid. Inside is a panel thought to depict scenes, including ones with King Serpent-Jaguar.
Next to the Temple of the Sun is another small temple worth seeing, built by King Serpent-Jaguar’s brother and dedicated to him. It also has a tablet depicting scenes involving King Serpent-Jaguar. Also in this section, Temple XV, where several tombs were discovered, is worth seeing.
The north group of buildings has five temples on a platform. An interesting structure here is one called the Temple of the Count, a pyramid with a temple on top, where several tombs were found. This does not refer to its function within Palenque but is named after the European explorer Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, a colorful figure who often referred to himself as a count — whether truthfully or not is unclear — and who is speculated to have lived here for a few months during his time in Palenque in the 19th century.
An absolute must-see before you leave is the Palenque site museum near the archaeological zone. It has many stunning artifacts in addition to the Red Queen Pavilion section and the replica sarcophagus of King Pakal.
Thilini Wijesinhe, a financial professional turned writer and entrepreneur, moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia. She writes from Mérida, Yucatán. Her website can be found at https://momentsing.com/
Mexico will reestablish diplomatic and commercial relations with North Korea, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.
“We have a position of hands-off around the world, we respect every government and we’re going to reestablish relations with North Korea as well, like any other country,” Ebrard told reporters on the sidelines of a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York last week.
Mexico currently has a seat on the Security Council after being elected unopposed last year as the representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ebrard acknowledged that the east Asian hermit kingdom has violated international law and Security Council resolutions by carrying out nuclear tests and launching long-range missiles. He didn’t say when relations with North Korea might resume or reveal any details about bilateral negotiations.
The previous federal government cut Mexico’s ties with the nation led by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un in 2017 amid international pressure to do so, especially from the United States, in light of its nuclear activity. The Foreign Affairs Ministry declared the North Korean ambassador a persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 72 hours.
The Mexican government said at the time that the expulsion was to express its “absolute rejection” of North Korea’s nuclear activity, describing it as “a grave threat to peace and international security and a growing threat to nations of the region, including fundamental allies of Mexico such as Japan and South Korea.”
The office of then president Enrique Peña Nieto ordered government departments to comply with UN resolutions on Pyongyang.
Ebrard’s indication that Mexico will reestablish relations with North Korea may be an appeal to the ruling Morena party’s base, while showing foreign policy independence from the United States, the news agency Bloomberg said.
A four-tonne, 40-year-old Asian elephant moved into his new home Monday at a new animal sanctuary 30 kilometers north of Culiacán, Sinaloa.
“Big Boy” had spent 30 years as a circus animal and was then kept chained in Jalisco for five years after a law prohibiting the use of animals in circuses went into force in 2015. He was transferred from Jalisco to Sinaloa three months ago.
The elephant spent three months in Culiacán Zoo where his diet was monitored and he was given medical attention, before being moved to the open air sanctuary earlier this week.
The 21-hectare Ostok Animal Protection & Sanctuary will house animals whose ecosystems are threatened and those rescued from illegal trafficking, poaching and abandonment.
The project came to life when animal rights activist Arturo Islas Allende lobbied restaurant entrepreneur Jorge Cueva, known as Mr. Tempo, to purchase Big Boy for about US $400,000. Allende and president of the Association of Zoos, Breeders and Aquariums, Ernesto Zazueta, then founded the sanctuary.
However, looking after the elephant is no mean feat: it eats more than 200 kilograms of alfalfa, oats and fruit per day.
Zazueta explained the need for the sanctuary. “We are in a very, very critical situation. In the last 30 years we have lost 40% of all the fauna in our country and 30% is in danger of extinction,” he said.
“The last governments increased urbanization mega-projects that demolish the homes of hundreds of thousands of animals, and reduced the budget allocated to the environment, causing a lack of protection for the vast majority of Natural Protected Areas and the abandonment of wild fauna,” he added.
