Jonathan Heath believes the sector should be seeing double-digit growth.
Growth figures for the construction industry represent “very bad news,” Bank of México deputy governor Jonathan Heath said Tuesday.
The sector grew by 1.2% in April in annual terms, but contracted 1.8% on the previous month, data from the national statistics agency Inegi had shown earlier in the day.
Construction should be showing double-digit growth, according to Heath. “In principle, most of the indicators should show high annual rates, in the two digits, as of April given the arithmetic effects of the comparative base,” he wrote on Twitter.
A rebound may not be forthcoming: economic analyst at Banco Base, Gabriela Siller, said that future growth in construction is uncertain due to a possible rebound in Covid cases, lack of public and private investment and increased material costs.
The year-on-year growth in April was the first increase after 33 months of consecutive drops. However, that incremental rise is potentially deceiving: it is largely due to the collapse in the sector’s activity last year, meaning April 2020 was far less productive than the preceding month.
The construction data contrasts with recent figures that paint a picture of an economic recovery gathering pace after gross domestic product fell by some 8.5% last year, the most since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In fact, the president forecast on Friday that by the third quarter the economy would reach pre-pandemic levels.
Mexico’s economy grew 24.8% in May compared with the same month last year, according to a preliminary estimate published by Inegi.
Americas Gold and Silver's San Rafael Mine in Cosalá, Sinaloa.
Two subsidiaries of Canadian mining company Americas Gold and Silver have filed criminal complaints against members of the mining union, led by ruling party Senator Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, for illegal occupation and sabotage of their operations in Cosalá, Sinaloa.
Members of the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers seized control of the Canadian company’s San Rafael lead mine and its processing plant 1 1/2 years ago.
According to a “chronology of the illegal blockade at Cosalá operations” published on the Americas Gold and Silver website, a small group led by Yasser Beltrán Kurioca forcefully took possession of the mine and mill by blocking access on January 26, 2020.
According to a report published by the newspaper Reforma on Monday, two subsidiaries that operate the mine and mill filed complaints with the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office. They each claimed that the closure of their facilities has cost them US $150,000 per day.
Their combined losses now total US $153 million, Reforma said, adding that one of the complaints was referred to the federal Attorney General’s Office.
According to the complaints, the union invaders evicted mine workers, seized control of the mine and mill and blocked access to the site, located about 180 kilometers northeast of Mazatlán. They also allegedly altered the operation of the mine, changed the flow of water into it and stole lead concentrate using dump trucks.
The takeover of the mine and its mill is related to a collective contract dispute that dates back to 2019.
In April this year, more than 700 people, including mine workers and residents of Cosalá, wrote to President López Obrador to seek his assistance to reopen the mine.
They said that Beltrán Kurioca — described by Reforma as an “operator” of Gómez Urrutia — does not represent them and that he and his group have only caused problems.
“Beltrán doesn’t live in Cosalá; that’s why he doesn’t know what the situation we’re going through means. His presence is an obstacle to finding a solution for all of us,” the letter said.
The distinctively shaped pyramid of Xaibé. Its purpose remains unknown, but archaeologists speculate that it was an astronomical observatory.
Cobá is considered one of the most important ancient Maya cities in the present-day Yucatán peninsula. Situated within a day trip’s distance from Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Mérida, and just 47 kilometers from Tulum, the site is surrounded by jungles and lakes and is close to a few cenotes.
Cobá was first mentioned in contemporary texts by American explorer John Lloyd Stephens in 1842, although the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) says that he did not visit the site. In 1886, a former director of the Yucatecan Museum, Juan Peón Contreras, visited Cobá, but important archaeological explorations there did not begin until the 20th century.
Cobá is a city that has maintained its original name — Mayan for Chopped Water. The first settlement — thought to have consisted of small villages around lakes — dates to between 100 B.C. and A.D. 300. The city peaked in development during A.D. 600–1000, and Cobá had maintained relations with other Maya cities in the Petén — in Guatemala — as well as in Mexico during the Mesoamerican Classic Period.
Around A.D. 900–1000, Cobá entered a power struggle with Chichén Itzá and was defeated. While its power declined after, the city continued for several more centuries and was eventually abandoned around the 16th century.
Cobá extended to over 70 square kilometers with an extensive road network of about 50 white roads — elevated roads with a white surface. Two significant roads include a 100-kilometer road to Yaxuná, a Maya city close to Chichén Itzá, and a 20-kilometer road to the Ixil in Yucatán. The main area of the city was surrounded by five lagoons, and there are two notable lakes — Lake Cobá and Lake Macanxoc — by the archaeological zone.
Panels on the walls of this impressive ball court feature the figures of prisoners.
During its peak, Cobá’s population is thought to have been over 50,000. INAH says archaeologists have identified 14 rulers who guided Cobá to its grandeur. A female ruler named Ixik … Yopaat (the ellipsis indicates where letters were illegible in the ancient reference to her), who ruled for 40 years in the early seventh century, is noted as one of the most important.
You will enter the archaeological zone by beautiful Lake Cobá. There are four main groups of buildings and many other structures distributed across the site. Hence, prepare for some extensive walking. You can also rent a bicycle or a bike taxi to explore some areas of the site.
By the entrance is the Cobá Group, identified as the oldest section with over 50 structures and several stelae — carved or inscribed stone slabs or pillars. Six white roads begin and end in this group.
A significant building here is the nine-tier pyramid called The Church with its temple on top measuring over 24 meters in height. The Church is the second tallest building on the site. A stela and an altar sit in front of the pyramid, and it is speculated that some people in the area still worship the stela, which they believe represents a virgin called Colebí. Unfortunately, climbing this pyramid is not allowed.
The plaza in front of the pyramid is thought to have held religious and other everyday activities. Next to it is an interesting structure with a vaulted passage below its stairway.
A must-see in this group is the ball court — one of two on the site. The ball court has two parallel buildings with ball rings, but, notably, panels on the walls with figures of prisoners.
A close-up of Cobá’s Nohoch Mul pyramid.
North of the Cobá Group is the Group D buildings. A highlight in this area is the Paintings Group, which features the Temple of the Paintings — a pyramid structure with a temple on top that has remains of murals. Climbing this building for a closer view is unfortunately not allowed.
The second ball court is also in Group D, which has the prisoner-figure panels as well as two markers of stone carvings in the playing area. One marker is identified as a skull, and the other an animal — possibly a jaguar.
An absolute must-see in this section, however, is the distinctively shaped four-tier pyramid called Xaibé — Mayan for Crossroads. Several white roads connect by this pyramid, whose exact purpose is unknown, although there is speculation it was an observatory.
North of Group D is the Nohoch Mul Group, with its famous Nohoch Mul Pyramid. Nohoch Mul is Mayan for “great mound.” Only a few of the Nohoch Mul Group buildings have been explored.
This seven-tier pyramid is the tallest building on the site, measuring around 40 meters tall and featuring a temple on top. The crowning temple has images of the “Diving God” — a god portrayed upside-down.
A second stairway of the pyramid leads to a room on a lower floor thought to be a temple. While climbing is usually allowed on this pyramid, it was cordoned off when we visited due to the ongoing pandemic. In the plaza to the south of the pyramid is a notable stela, considered the best-preserved of the site and said to depict a ruler.
East of the Cobá Group and Lake Macanxoc is the Macanxoc Group of buildings, considered mostly ceremonial in purpose. There are multiple buildings on a platform, eight stelae and several altars worth seeing. Archaeologists have yet to explore some of its structures.
The shady atmosphere makes exploring a pleasant experience despite the warm temperatures almost year-round. We spotted many beautiful birds and monkeys in the surrounding wilderness while there.
Once you’re done exploring Cobá, refresh with a swim at one of the area’s three nearby cenotes — Choo-Ha, Tankach-Ha and Multum-Ha.
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 is a prized host for Formula E races, the competition’s regional director said on the eve of the sixth annual race in Mexico, held this year in Puebla.
Races are normally awarded to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. But when the circuit was converted into a hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic, Puebla took over hosting duties: the city showcased two days of racing over the weekend at the Autódromo Internacional Miguel E. Abed.
Formula E Latin America director Álvaro Buenaventura stated how highly Mexico is valued by organizers. “For us Mexico is one of the bastions of the calendar, it is one of our star dates and it is one of Formula E’s favorite countries. Whether it is Puebla, Mexico City or another city in the country, the goal is to keep coming to Mexico,” he said.
He added that Mexican fans were an important factor. “We have a very important fan base in this country. There is a motorsport culture, even more so now seeing how [Formula 1 driver] Checo [Pérez] is doing … it is a priority to keep coming to Mexico for Formula E,” he said.
The director explained that the track in Puebla was chosen in some part because of family connections. “The Abed family are from Puebla. José Abed is the vice-president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) at the global level; and Jorge, his son, is director of the [national association] OMDAI.”
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) June 20, 2021
However, he made it clear that Mexico City remains the prime destination. “For us, [Autódromo] Hermanos Rodríguez fulfills all the good things about being in the center of the country with incredible facilities. If we were going to Mexico City, we would continue with the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez without any doubt,” he said.
The weekend’s race in Puebla was won by Swiss driver Edoardo Mortara for ROKiT Venturi Racing, which took him to the top of the leader board.
As Sandoval expressed gratitude for having been part of the government, the president looked distinctly unimpressed.
President López Obrador on Monday announced the replacement of Irma Sandoval as head of the government’s internal corruption watchdog.
The president said that Roberto Salcedo, who served under Sandoval as deputy minister for auditing and the fight against corruption, would become the new head of the Ministry of Public Administration (SFP).
“We thank Irma very much for her support. She is a woman who fights for justice and for democracy,” López Obrador said in a video message posted to social media, adding that she made “very important” contributions to the government’s fight against corruption and the implementation of its austerity policies.
“We are entering a new stage, and we are going to carry out new reforms,” the president said, citing a proposed constitutional change to save money by centralizing currently autonomous government agencies.
“… It’s a good change [in the leadership of the SFP] and … I thank Roberto for accepting the position,” he said in his office in the company of both Sandoval and Salcedo.
Despite smiles as the president replaced Sandoval with Roberto Salcedo, left, the president and Sandoval’s relationship has reportedly been distant.
“… The aim is to continue combatting corruption, not allow corruption, to banish corruption from our country and to continue acting as an austere and honest government,” López Obrador said.
The president didn’t offer a specific reason for replacing Sandoval, a former academic who faced her own accusations of corruption last year, but Security Minister Rosa Rodríguez presented data earlier on Monday that showed that unspecified crimes committed by public servants increased 8% in the first five months of the year.
According to a report by the newspaper El Universal that cited unnamed government insiders, there were two main factors that led to her removal.
One was the media attention on Sandoval last year for allegedly failing to declare multimillion-peso properties she owns and the other was her support for her brother, Pablo Sandoval, to become the ruling Morena party’s candidate for governor in Guerrero over López Obrador’s preferred candidate, Félix Salgado.
The latter was nominated but ultimately replaced by his daughter after he was barred from running for failing to disclose his campaign expenses.
Sandoval’s support for her brother affected her previously close relationship with the president, El Universal said, noting also that the pair didn’t appear to be on the friendliest terms during their appearance together in López Obrador’s video.
Cambio de titular en la Secretaría de la Función Publica
The video in which the president announced the departure of his minister of public administration.
“The presidential office seemed like a freezer this afternoon,” the newspaper said, adding that López Obrador announced the replacement of Sandoval in a “serious tone.”
“… She spoke … of the social struggle of her family, that she’s returning to UNAM [the National Autonomous University], that [Mexico’s] corruption perception statistics improved but she never managed a smile or [received] a gesture of empathy from President López Obrador, who looked a little bored …” El Universal said.
Sandoval highlighted that 200 billion pesos (US $9.8 billion) has been saved through austerity policies and that Mexico has risen 14 places on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) since the new government took office. It currently ranks 124th out of 180 countries.
However, the newspaper Reforma, which is generally critical of the government, asserted that the outgoing public administration minister did not achieve “clear results” in the fight against corruption.
It noted that Mexico fell three places on the Americas Society/Council of the Americas 2021 Capacity to Combat Corruption Index and that Sandoval exonerated high-ranking officials of corruption charges.
The president’s relationship with Sandoval reportedly cooled after she advocated for her brother, Pablo Sandoval, to be Guerrero’s Morena candidate for governor.
“She also exonerated the former deputy [foreign affairs] minister for North America, Jesús Seade, who was accused of embezzlement and abuse of office for using public resources to pay for private travel.”
Posters of 'irresponsible fathers' on display in San Luis Potosí.
Women’s groups in San Luis Potosí city have hung posters in the main square denouncing fathers who have failed to provide for their children.
The posters feature 120 “deadbeat dads” — among them are engineers, teachers and civil servants — some of whom have allegedly been absent from their children’s lives for more than 18 years.
Aside from shaming the fathers, the protest aims to highlight the laws that favor irresponsible parents, and allow them to dodge their legal obligations.
Many of the posters display photos of the men in question, and give a description of their misdeeds. “Abandoned. Didn’t want to know his son,” one read.
“Hasn’t given financial support in three years,” read another.
“Fatherhood has to be affectionate and empathetic. The nutritional support of children isn’t a favor; it’s an obligation,” another mother had written.
One participant detailed the legal loopholes that enable apathetic fathers. “There are very bad fathers that play the system, changing jobs and not staying in one permanently, changing address, doing odd jobs or fee based work in order not to provide what they are obliged to to their children. They are not present, neither economically nor in terms of their care.”
This sinkhole appeared in the patio of a home in Mérida.
The sinkhole that emerged in Puebla late last month has caused national intrigue, but there are other similar recurrences of the geographic anomaly — though none as big — across the country.
In Iztapalapa, Mexico City, a sinkhole that appeared on June 14 was attributed to heavy rains, but locals say the installation of streetlights caused “vibrations in the ground.”
The next day, a drainage leak caused a large hole in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, after heavy rain. Authorities worked through the night to repair the leak.
In Villahermosa, Tabasco, a day later, a chasm emerged to swallow a whole lane of a highway, capping off three new sinkholes in as many days.
On Friday, in Mérida, Yucatán, another sinkhole emerged in the patio of a home. It measured five by four meters and about eight meters deep. In recent days, a 15-meter-wide crack appeared in Celaya, Guanajuato, once again attributed to heavy rains.
Sinkhole tourism in Santa María Zacatepec, Puebla.
Meanwhile, the now famous sinkhole in Puebla has become a fully fledged tourist attraction. Tens of families visit the hole each weekend in Santa María Zacatepec, about 20 kilometers northwest of Puebla city, where they can pay 5 pesos to access the roof of a house close to the security barrier to exploit the photo opportunity.
Tacos, elotes and souvenirs are available at the site, and a commemorative bread from a nearby bakery has proven a hit: it features the two dogs that fell into the sinkhole, Spay and Spike, who were rescued on June 11 after 72 hours in the pit.
However, the bakery may want update the bread’s design after another dog was filmed inside the sinkhole. Drone footage taken yesterday, which has received 283,000 views, shows a mixed breed dog stuck at the bottom. Animal rights organizations had previously suggested that the security perimeter be reinforced to prevent animals breaching it.
Residents, supported by the drone footage, have also reported a further 30 unexplained smaller holes in the area.
The sinkhole was reported to measure 126 by 114 meters on June 9; larger than the pitch at the Aztec Stadium and five times wider and double the length of the Olympic swimming pool in Mexico City.
A former leader of the Gulf Cartel in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, has been sentenced to 37 years behind bars.
José Tiburcio Hernández Fuentes, also known as The Jinx (El Gafe), was arrested along with four other cartel members in April 2015. The arrests caused chaos in Reynosa, leaving three people dead and two wounded as some 60 cartel members burned cars and buses to create roadblocks in an attempt to break them free.
A federal judge found Hernández guilty of organized crime, money laundering and possession of a military firearm. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to 1,700 days’ minimum salary.
The trafficker began his criminal career in 2006 under Juan Manuel Rodríguez, who was detained in June 2014.
He was appointed head of a faction in Reynosa and in 2009 head of five criminal cells dedicated to the theft of fuels, drug distribution, extortion and kidnapping.
He gained full control of Reynosa in 2012, equipped gang members with high powered weapons, and engaged in a war against Los Zetas, a former armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.
Hernández is now interned in Altiplano maximum security prison in México state.
Reynosa is a place of crucial strategic importance for traffickers and other criminal actors as it sits on the Texas border. In the chaos that ensued in 2015 following the arrests, the United States closed two border crossing for 48 hours.
The president's middle class would not be 'easy prey for manipulation by vested interest groups.'
After characterizing the middle class as a political opponent earlier this month, President López Obrador said Monday that he is seeking to create a new “more humane” and “more caring” middle class that is less susceptible to media campaigns against his government.
“Of course we want a middle class, we want to lift millions of Mexicans out of poverty in order to establish a new, more humane, more fraternal, more caring middle class. That’s what we’re seeking,” AMLO, as the president is commonly known, said at his regular news conference.
The president said that his government wants to raise the living and working standards of the nation’s poor but doesn’t want them to turn their backs on the “dispossessed, needy and marginalized” when their own lot in life has improved.
López Obrador also said he wants a middle class that is “more aware” and “more politicized” so that its members have the capacity to “resist campaigns of manipulation.”
“They shouldn’t be easy prey for the manipulation that vested interest groups – those who don’t want change – orchestrate and carry out,” he said, adding that maintaining the status quo and “the regime of corruption, injustice, oppression and privileges” is in the interests of such groups.
Ricardo Anaya: ‘The president has lost his compass.’
The new middle class has to be made up of people who are “very alert” and “very intelligent,” AMLO said, implying that those who possess those qualities will support his administration rather than the opposition.
“A lot of the time, this is not just related to one’s academic level. There are those who have a degree, a master’s or a doctorate and they’re very susceptible to manipulation,” he said.
The president claimed that there was a “very powerful campaign of manipulation,” or a “dirty war,” against his government and the ruling Morena party in the lead-up to the June 6 elections, especially in Mexico City, where the opposition won nine of the 16 boroughs.
A lot of people who voted against Morena “didn’t even know” who they were voting for or what they stood for, López Obrador said.
“They were very angry … at us, at the project of transformation,” he said, adding that people who voted against Morena are in favor of the continuation of the “regime of corruption, injustices and privileges” his government is abolishing.
“And they want to get ahead. That’s why I talk about aspiration, at any cost, without moral scruples of any kind. Neoliberalism … brought with it a very individualistic, very selfish vision,” López Obrador said.
“A vision that that is very focused on progressing in a material sense – material well-being without worrying out the well-being of the soul. I’ll look after myself even though my fellow man continues to be impoverished …”
The president has faced widespread condemnation for his attacks on the aspirational middle class, including one from 2018 National Action Party (PAN) presidential candidate Ricardo Anaya, who is seen as a leading contender to be an opposition candidate at the 2024 presidential election.
“Now the president has really lost his compass. His manner of understanding the election is truly nonsense, complete madness. For him, the narcos behaved themselves well [on election day] and it turns out that the middle class behaved poorly because they turned their back on Morena in Mexico City,” he said in a video message last week.
“… Now it turns out that having aspirations in life, wanting to get ahead is to be selfish,” Anaya said in another video posted to social media yesterday.
The video features several ordinary Mexicans outlining their aspirations in life before the 42-year-old former PAN national president declares: “If being aspirational is to have dreams, the desire to succeed [and] the desire to get ahead, … then add us to the list.”
A third wave of the coronavirus pandemic appears to be beginning in Mexico, according to an infectious disease doctor who was the federal government’s point man during the swine flu pandemic in 2009.
“It seems in Mexico that a third, less pronounced wave of Covid is beginning,” Alejandro Macías wrote on Twitter, citing case numbers in 10 states in four areas of the country: “1. Baja Californa Sur-Sonora-Sinaloa; 2. Quintana Roo-Yucatán-Campeche-Tabasco: 3. Tamaulipas-Nuevo León; and 4. Mexico City.”
Five of those states – Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Baja California Sur – are currently high risk orange on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map, while the other five are medium risk yellow.
Mexico City ranks first in the country for estimated active coronavirus cases with more than 6,800 while Tabasco ranks second with 2,407. Yucatán ranks third with 1,967 followed by Baja California Sur (1,783), Tamaulipas (1,355), Quintana Roo (1,353) and México state (1,289), which includes many municipalities that are part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area.
Macías, who is also a member of the coronavirus commission at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), published a graph beneath his Twitter post that shows reported case numbers and Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
A third wave of Covid is evident in rising case numbers starting at the end of May. UASLP-OPS-COPOCyT
The graph shows a significant and sustained decline in case numbers following the second and worst wave of the pandemic in late 2020 and early 2021. However, it also shows that reported infections have trended upwards this month.
The federal Health Ministry reported an average of 3,086 new cases per day during the first 21 days of June, a 38.7% increase compared to the daily average in May, which was 2,225. Reported Covid-19 deaths have increased 70.2% this month to a daily average of 366 compared to 215 in May.
Macías predicted in a second Twitter post on Monday that a third wave of the pandemic will be regionalized rather than being seen across the whole country and young people will be most affected because (most) older people have been vaccinated.
Hopefully it will cause fewer deaths than the first two waves and the demand on hospitals won’t be as great, he wrote. “We will have to coexist with this virus,” Macías added.
Mauricio Rodríguez Álvarez, spokesman for the UNAM coronavirus commission, said there are different causes for the rising case numbers in different parts of the country.
The spikes in Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Baja California Sur are linked to tourism, while the increase in Tabasco is associated with the reopening of the economy, he said.
The increase in cases in Mexico City and Nuevo León could be related to the relaxation of virus mitigation measures, while the recent switch to the orange light risk level in Tamaulipas is linked to the state’s proximity to Texas, Rodríguez said, even though vaccination rates in the United States are much higher than those in Mexico.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s accumulated case tally currently stands at just under 2.48 million while the official Covid-19 death toll is 231,244, a figure considered a vast undercount, mainly due to the low testing rate.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell reported Tuesday morning that 40.7 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered and 28.2 million people have received at least one shot.
The government has so far offered shots to health workers, seniors, people aged 40 to 59 and pregnant women, and has now opened up the vaccination registration process to people aged 30 to 39 across Mexico and residents of northern border municipalities aged 18 or older.
