Health Minister Jorge Alcocer claimed last month that that vaccinating children could have a “limiting” effect on the development of their immune systems.
The federal government has challenged a court order instructing it to offer COVID-19 vaccines to all youths aged 12 to 17.
A México state court official announced Monday that the federal Health Ministry’s in-house lawyer had filed an appeal against the ruling handed down early last month.
The appeal was filed on behalf of Health Minister Jorge Alcocer; Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, the government’s coronavirus czar; and President López Obrador.
The same México state court official formally notified health authorities on October 27 that if they didn’t modify the national vaccination policy to include all minors between 12 and 17 within five days, they would be reported to the federal Attorney General’s Office for contempt of court.
The government’s appeal will be referred to a collegiate court, which will determine whether it has the right to not offer vaccines to adolescents. The government has offered shots to minors aged 12 to 17 with underlying health conditions that make them susceptible to serious COVID-19 illness, but argued that the universal inoculation of youths is not necessary.
López Obrador indicated on October 14 that the government would challenge the court order, which was issued in response to an injunction request filed by the family of a girl seeking her vaccination. The judge determined there was no impediment to an order applying to all youths because access to health care is a universal human right. She ruled that the government must offer vaccines to youths during the fifth phase of the national vaccination plan, which concludes next March.
In other COVID-19 news:
• It’s “highly probable” that Mexico will enter a fourth wave of the pandemic in the coming weeks, a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) official said Monday.
PAHO Mexico representative Cristian Morales said it’s very likely the fourth wave will begin this month and extend into December.
He suggested that the wave could be fueled by large gatherings of people at the Day of the Dead parade and Formula One Grand Prix in Mexico City.
“We’ll see in the next two or three weeks if the public followed the social distancing, face mask use and frequent handwashing instructions,” Morales said.
• The Health Ministry reported 2,192 new cases and 137 additional COVID-19 deaths on Monday. Mexico’s accumulated tallies are currently just under 3.83 million and 289,811, respectively. Estimated active cases number 19,493.
Mexico’s fatality rate is 7.6 per 100 confirmed cases, while its mortality rate is 227.1 deaths per 100,000 people, the 21st highest in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Profeco said that the practice breached the Mexican constitution as well as consumer protection and civil aviation laws. Blue planet Studio/Shutterstock
Consumer protection agency Profeco has told Mexico’s three biggest airlines to stop charging for carry-on luggage.
Profeco said in a statement it would take legal action against Aeroméxico, VivaAerobus and Volaris if they continue what it called an “abusive practice.”
The agency said that hand luggage is an inherent part of commercial air transport, which was “not open to negotiation,” and that denying passengers their right to carry-ons “could constitute a practice that harms the interests and rights of consumers.”
It added that the practice breached the Mexican constitution, consumer protection law and civil aviation law.
The latter states that passengers have a right to hand luggage: “The passenger may carry up to two pieces of hand luggage in the cabin. The dimensions of each one will be up to 55 centimeters long by 40 centimeters wide by 25 centimeters high, and the weight of both should not exceed 10 kilograms.”
A network of environmental groups was critical of Mexico's climate change efforts.
Mexico won an unenviable second place Monday in a daily contest held at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
Presented by the Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of more than 1,500 civil society organizations in over 130 countries, “Fossil of the Day” awards are given to the countries that are “doing the most to achieve the least” in terms of the progress on climate change.
Mexico was awarded second place “for pumping more, not less, money into the fossil fuel industry, building oil refineries, and delaying policies aimed at carbon emissions reductions.”
In a press release, the CAN said that “Mexico has worked hard to earn its Fossil of the Day award.”
“Ranked as the 13th largest emitter of CO2 in the world, it’s not exactly spearheading energy transition,” it said.
Mexico’s status on the Climate Action Tracker.
The network insinuated that Mexico’s inaction on climate is confounding given that “in 2020 alone, at least 101,000 people were forcibly displaced because of natural disasters, according to the annual report of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.”
It said that Mexico “turned up in Glasgow with out of date NDCs [nationally determined contributions] from 2015, previously rated as ‘insufficient’ to achieve the 1.5 C degree goal and with no loss and damage or emissions mitigation data.”
“And surprise, surprise, they also failed to support the recent ‘Global Coal to Clean Power Transition’ Statement which championed a just and inclusive transition to prevent loss and damage and human rights violations they’ve been linked to,” the CAN said.
“They’ve now fallen even further behind with a rating of ‘highly insufficient’ on their climate policies. How much further can this country slide?”
The highly insufficient rating comes from the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent scientific analysis that tracks government climate action and measures it against the globally agreed Paris Agreement aim of holding warming well below 2 C, and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5 C.
“The ‘highly insufficient’ rating indicates that Mexico’s climate policies and commitments are not consistent with any interpretation of a fair-share contribution and lead to rising, rather than falling, emissions, with an exception being Mexico’s conditional NDC target, which roughly stabilizes emissions at today’s level,” the CAT said.
“… Mexico’s plans to not increase its 2030 mitigation ambition are contrary to the Paris Agreement’s requirement that each successive NDC should represent a progression on their mitigation efforts. This sends negative signals to the international community that Mexico is not serious about its commitment to reduce GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions in line with the Paris Agreement climate goals.”
The CAT noted that “in the midst of the pandemic, the Mexican Ministry of Energy published a bill (fast tracked due to COVID-19) that would effectively halt private renewable energy investment in the country, prioritizing the government’s own aging, fossil fuel-fired power plants.”
“… The decision to favor fossil fuel generation over renewable energy now puts Mexico on a path that is even more inconsistent with the steps needed to achieve the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 C limit. Its plans for the power sector – especially the decision to continue investing in coal – stands in stark contrast to what is required to achieve the 1.5 C limit.”
Among the other countries that have “highly insufficient” CAT ratings are Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India and Saudi Arabia.
Edging out Mexico in Monday’s “Fossil of the Day” award were the United Kingdom (which has an “almost sufficient” CAT rating) and Saudi Arabia. Those two countries shared first place “for their sterling efforts in securing a weak new Work Program on Action for Climate Empowerment, which we’re now going to be lumbered with for the next decade!”
As Mexican wines grow in acclaim, many vineyards have opened their doors to host a variety of experiences, offering everything from traditional grape stomping to ziplining. La Redonda
Each year, Mexico’s clout in the wine industry grows, with production and consumption increasing in the past few years. In each national and international contest where it is presented, Mexican wine is increasingly awarded medals of distinction.
But the accolades don’t end with just production: wine tourism in Mexico is also praised for its agricultural excellence, hospitality, culinary renown and cultural offerings. The breadth of experiences that visitors can find in wineries here have made this kind of tourism unforgettable, and Mexico’s wine trails across the country keep expanding.
The Baja California wine trail (linked page in Spanish) continues to be the most developed, with more than 100 vineyards that offer all kinds of activities and events. Within the larger route — which runs from Valle de Guadalupe to Valle de San Vicente — are various smaller ones where you can find well-established vineyards like Ojos Negros in Real de Castillo Nuevo and the Santo Tomás, Monte Xanic and Pedro Domecq vineyards in Ensenada. There are also boutique wineries that bottle small amounts of high-quality wine and receive guests with family hospitality.
At these wineries, you learn how their wines are made, taste a range of bottles and try food pairings. Some wineries also host music concerts, hot-air balloon rides, bike trips, horseback riding or tours on all-terrain vehicles. The Baron Balche vineyard in Ensenada and the La Escuelita and El Cielo vineyards, both in El Porvenir, also offer experiences for visitors, including resort stays at El Cielo.
The area is also known for its cuisine, with surf-and-turf options in the area’s best restaurants in the vineyards and nearby. The region is famous for its lobster, so lobster tacos should be on every visitor’s list.
Probably the best time to hit the wine trails in Mexico is July-September, during grape harvesting time, when many vineyards host special events. La Redonda vineyard
Some of these wine trails are multi-day excursions, but there are plenty of excellent hotels to stay in along the way, including Hotel Burbuja in El Porvenir, where guests sleep inside see-through pods that provide a view of the starry night sky in Valle de Guadalupe, undoubtedly the most beautiful section of Baja’s wine country.
Vineyards also host special events throughout the year, such as Ensenada’s Festival de las Conchas y el Vino Nuevo in the first two weeks of April. If you love seafood, white wines and rosés, this is your party. Flying high on a zipline is a favorite guest activity, but best to do that before the tastings. For parents traveling with kids, there are plenty of safe, fun places for them to play while you tour the vineyards.
In the Santo Tomás valley, Bodega Santo Tomás’ Único wine was one of the first to win recognition for its quality at a time when most Mexican wines were still just mediocre. The winery is one of the largest and oldest vineyards in Mexico.
Moving southward, another important wine trail is the Bajío, in a region located in the states of Querétaro and Guanajuato in the center of Mexico. The father of the nation’s independence movement, the priest Miguel Hidalgo, had vineyards here.
Distinctly different from Baja, this wine route features colonial architecture, impressive aqueducts and mosaics that brighten the arid landscape, where wine production underwent a revolution in the 1980s and is now home to about 50 vineyards.
Among the more veteran vineyards in Querétaro is Ezquiel Montes’ Freixenet complex, the internationally known Catalan maker of sparkling wine, which has a winery here under the name Finca Sala Vivé. They host one of the most popular wine events in the country annually, the Festival de la Paella, a competition for experts and amateur paella makers.
Valle de Guadalupe in Baja California is Mexico’s best-known wine region. deposit photos
Also in Ezquiel Montes is La Redonda, with a more than 40-year history of pleasing Mexican palates. Each year, it hosts a grape harvest festival with tours, outdoor concerts, fireworks, and hot-air balloon rides and horse and bicycle tours to round out the wine tasting experience. You can even take part in a traditional grape stomping.
The San Juanito winery in San José de la Laja is tinier by comparison but well-known for its monovarietals, i.e. wines made from a specific grape. Some distinguished varietals they produce include a malbec, a merlot and a tempranillo, a type of wine made from a Spanish variety of black grape.
The grape has so well adapted to growing in central Mexico that the vineyard is working to certify the wine produced from it as a designation of origin vintage to be called Tinta de Bernal, perhaps because of the vineyard’s marvelous view of the Peña de Bernal — said to be the world’s second largest natural monolith — which attracts climbers from far and wide.
Speaking of Peña de Bernal, the Museo de Queso and Vino, a cheese and wine museum, makes the nearby colonial and quaint Magical Town of Tequisquiapan worth a visit, where the monolith dominates your view just about everywhere.
Lovingly called Tequis by locals, this town, dotted with colorful homes, has plenty of nice hotels where you can enjoy a weekend of hiking and shopping and be close to all the area’s vineyards.
Puerta del Lobo, in El Lobo, is one of Querétaro’s most recognized wineries, managed by a Spanish vintner making signature wines, different with each harvest.
The state of Querétaro has seen explosive growth of its wine industry. SECTUR
The Cuna de Tierra vineyard in Guanajuato is unmissable and considered one of the best wineries in the country. It has a particularly famous and delicious nebbiolo.
Because of their proximity, Querétaro and Guanajuato could almost be considered part of the same wine trail, but they are definitely not the same experience. While Querétaro has had a head start in winemaking, Guanajuato’s wineries are gaining more ground every day. It is currently the third-largest wine production region in the country and has a lot going on in terms of wine tourism.
Revived festivals and competitions — such as September’s Guanajuato Spirits Competition in the state capital and the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles Mexico Selection coming up later this month in Mineral de Pozos, along with many other cultural events related to wine and spirits, are filling up this year’s calendar into 2022.
Tres Raices in Dolores Hidalgo is another interesting winery along this route, a beautiful modern vineyard surrounded by eye-catching sculptures. Its wine, after just a few years on the market, is being lauded for its quality and taste.
While Baja California’s vineyards are world-famous, other parts of northern Mexico shouldn’t be left off this list: in Coahuila you can find the oldest vineyard in the Americas, Casa Madero, in the ancient and beautifully decorated San Lorenzo hacienda.
Here they produce some of the most famous and award-winning wines in the country. Casa Madero also offers tours and overnight stays in the hacienda. Gardens, vineyards, good wine and food, and more than anything, lots of peace and tranquility await you here.
An owl takes a breather on the vines at Cuna de Tierra in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato. Cuna de Tierra
For years, Casa Madero was the only wine tourism stop in this part of the country, but a local wine trail is slowly being developed here. At the moment there are two routes, one in the desert and the other in the mountains.
This is wine tourism with an interesting twist, as it includes archaeology. One route, the Vinos y Dinos (Wine & Dinosaurs) route, takes you to see both wineries and prehistoric fossils. On this route, you can visit the Don Leo vineyards in Parras de la Fuente and the Bosques de Monterreal and the Los Cedros wineries, both in Arteaga. I also personally recommend Vinícola Rancho El Fortín in Saltillo where, in addition to great wine, you can dine on genuine Charolais beef. The combined ranch and winery was the first entity to bring Charolais cattle to Mexico from France in 1929.
Another important northern wine destination is Chihuahua, also a state with a bright future in wine production. Like much of wine country in Mexico, this area started off producing brandy and moved on to make great wines. Over 15 years 250 hectares of land for grape cultivation has been planted here, and there is plenty of room to grow due to the area’s sheer breadth of agricultural space.
With more than 20 active wineries, more than 10 offer visitor experiences, including Ciénega de Castilla in Cuauhtémoc, Molino Don Tomás in Santa Isabel, the Ruta Tres Ríos, the Vinícola Amelia and the Bodega Piñamora vineyards in the the capital, the Finca San Antonio y Saenz and, finally, the Vitivinicola Richesse vineyards in the municipality of Guerrero.
I have personally tasted several of the natural wines from Bodega Pinesque, also in Chihuahua, which has been fundamental in developing the winemaking industry in this state; its wines are delicious and of high quality. For more information, the organization Toma Vino de Chihuahua (Drink Chihuahuan Wine — linked page in Spanish) is a great source of information for first-timers about the region’s wine trails.
For the future, keep an eye out for other wine trails in the works in the states of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas. Cheers to Mexican wine!
Visitors at the Desert Museum in Saltillo, part of Coahuila’s unique Ruta Vinos y Dinos (Wine and Dinosaurs Route). Government of Saltillo
The Vidanta Vallarta golf course, home of the 2022 Mexican Open.
After runner-up success for golfer Carlos Ortiz on Sunday, there was more good news for Mexican golf: its most historic tournament will join the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour for 2022.
The contest is set for April 28-May 1 at the Vidanta Vallarta golf course in Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit. The annual competition already existed as the Mexico Championship on the PGA calendar, but has been promoted to an Open event.
It joins the World Wide Technology Championship at El Camaleón golf course near Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, — where Ortiz placed second on Sunday — as a PGA Tour event.
The Nayarit tournament will offer a purse of US $7.3 million to 132 players, of whom a minimum of four will be from Latin America.
Two Mexican winners of PGA tour events attended the PGA press conference, where the fixture was announced: Ortiz, who won the Vivint Houston Open in 2020, and Abraham Ancer, who won the St. Jude Invitational in 2021.
“For my part, I’m very excited, I already want it to start. The presence of this tournament will add to the growth of golf in our country. I have always said that playing in Mexico in front of the people of my country is very special. They give you an extra [impetus]. They help you play your best golf and that is why I am very motivated,” Ortiz said.
Ancer added that the tournament could help raise participation. “This is great news, especially considering that an event of this magnitude helps golf grow in Mexico and we are trying to get more people involved in this sport. It is always nice to be able to play a tournament of this level in front of your own people,” he said.
The vice president of tournament sponsor Grupo Salinas said expanding golf’s appeal was the company’s priority. “We are honored to host a world-class event in our country …” said Benjamín Salinas Sada. “We are convinced of the importance of taking this type of event to other locations within the country and thereby send a clear message: golf is not owned by just a few, it belongs to everyone. That is what we will always defend at Grupo Salinas,” he said.
Grupo Salinas owns TV Azteca and the Elektra retail and banking chain.
President López Obrador addressing the UN Security Council's meeting on exclusion, inequality and conflict. UN
Mexico will present a major global poverty-alleviation plan to the United Nations in the coming days, President López Obrador said Tuesday during an appearance before the organization’s Security Council.
Speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, López Obrador claimed that the intergovernmental organization has never done anything substantial to benefit the world’s poor.
“But it’s never too late to do justice. Today is the time to act against marginalization, attending to the causes and not just the consequences,” he said.
“In tune with this idea, in the coming days the Mexico representation will propose a global plan of fellowship and well-being to the General Assembly of the United Nations. The objective is to guarantee the right to a dignified life for 750 million people who survive on less than two dollars a day,” López Obrador said.
The president, on just his second trip outside Mexico since taking office in late 2018, said Mexico’s proposal could be funded by three different sources: an annual 4% “voluntary contribution” from the world’s 1,000 richest people; a similar contribution from the world’s 1,000 biggest companies; and a contribution of 0.2% of GDP from each of the G20 members.
Lopez Obrador in his role chairing the UN Security Council’s meeting on exclusion, inequality and conflict.
“Reaching this income goal, the fund could make use of about one trillion dollars annually,” López Obrador said. He suggested that the U.N. could award certificates to individuals, companies and governments that support the plan.
“The resources of this fund must reach the beneficiaries directly, without any intermediaries,” AMLO said, echoing remarks he has made about welfare distributed in Mexico.
“Because when funds are delivered, supposedly to help poor people or non-governmental organizations, … in many cases the money stays in bureaucratic apparatuses to pay for luxury offices and to keep advisors [on the payroll], or it’s diverted and ends up not reaching the [intended] beneficiaries,” he said.
López Obrador said the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund could collaborate on the fellowship and well-being plan, and proposed carrying out a census next year to identify the world’s poorest and neediest people.
Once the target population has been identified, resources would be distributed to seniors and children with disabilities and impoverished students would receive scholarships, he said.
AMLO also said that money could be set aside for tree-planting and youth apprenticeship programs, such as those already in operation in Mexico. In short, he would like to see his government’s social programs rolled out around the world.
President López Obrador said his plan to alleviate global poverty could be funded by donations from the world’s richest companies, people and governments. Creative Commons
“I don’t believe, I say it sincerely, that any of the permanent members of this Security Council will oppose our proposal because this is not about nuclear weapons or military invasions, nor does it place the security of any state at risk. On the contrary, it seeks to build stability and peace through solidarity with those who most need our support,” López Obrador said.
“I’m sure that everyone, the rich and the poor, donors and beneficiaries, will be calmer with our consciences and we will all live with greater moral force.”
Earlier in his address, the president delivered a lengthy diatribe against corruption. “It would be hypocritical to ignore that the planet’s principal problem is corruption in all its dimensions: political, moral, economic, legal, fiscal and financial,” he said.
“It would be senseless to omit that corruption is the main cause of inequality, poverty, frustration, violence, migration and serious social conflicts. We’re in decay because never before in the history of the world had so much wealth accumulated in so few hands through cronyism,” AMLO said.
“… What are we doing in Mexico? We’ve applied the formula of banishing corruption and allocating all the money freed up [as a result] to the well-being of the people under the criteria [of] for the good of all, the poor come first.”
A tractor-trailer demolished a pedestrian overpass on the Los Reyes-Texcoco highway in México state on Monday night.
Surveillance camera footage showed that the truck’s cargo container, which appeared to have been raised, struck the overpass as the vehicle passed beneath it. A large piece of concrete became dislodged and fell on the truck, just behind the cab.
A taxi was also struck and its driver was transferred to hospital, but his injuries were not reported to be life-threatening.
The incident occurred at the entrance to Cuautlalpan, whose mayor confirmed there were no casualties.
One side of the highway was closed following the accident. The National Guard confirmed that traffic circulation was restored early on Tuesday.
A United States federal judge has ruled that former Chihuahua governor César Duarte can be extradited to Mexico to face charges of conspiracy and embezzlement of government funds.
Lauren Louis, a United States District Court judge in the Southern District of Florida, wrote in a ruling published Monday that Mexico’s extradition request satisfies the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and its southern neighbor.
“There is probable cause to believe that Duarte committed the crimes charged in the extradition complaint. I therefore certify that Duarte is extraditable as to those crimes and order Duarte detained pending both a review of Mexico’s extradition request by the Secretary of State and Duarte’s potential surrender to Mexico,” she wrote.
The former Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governor, who held office in the northern border state between 2010 and 2016, fled Mexico shortly after his term ended and was arrested in July 2020 in Miami, Florida, while working at a junkyard. He has 60 days to appeal the judge’s ruling.
According to Mexico’s 13-page extradition request, Duarte is accused of embezzling at least US $6.5 million in public resources and transferring the money to two companies with which he was associated: Unión Ganadera Regional General División del Norte de Chihuahua and Financiera de la División del Norte
He is also accused of diverting 250 million pesos (US $12.3 million at today’s exchange rate) of public money to PRI political campaigns. In addition, he faces charges of deliberately putting the state of Chihuahua in debt to the tune of 48 billion pesos (US $2.4 billion).
All told he faces at least 20 corruption-related charges, according to a report by the newspaper El País, and 11 warrants were issued for his arrest in Mexico before his capture in the United States.
The U.S. District Court ruling said that Duarte challenges the evidence that he diverted government funds.
“Duarte was not the secretary of the treasury, he argues, and was thus incapable of directing the state’s funds and on the other side of the transaction, it was Unión Ganadera and Financiera, not Duarte, alleged to have received the funds, and he contests the government’s ability to impute the acts of these companies upon him. Thus, he argues, the evidence fails to establish that he deviated the funds,” it said.
However, “multiple witnesses have offered testimony that Duarte authorized or instructed the release of the contested funds,” Louis’ ruling said.
Defense lawyers for Duarte claim that their client is a victim of political persecution led by his successor Javier Corral, who completed his five-year term in September.
They claim that Corral, who held office for the National Action Party (PAN) and was a strong advocate for Duarte’s extradition, pressured witnesses to testify against his predecessor.
The ex-PAN governor said on Twitter late Monday that the judge’s decision to give a green light to Duarte’s extradition is another step forward in a “long fight against corruption and impunity.”
The head of the federal government’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) has resigned in the wake of controversy surrounding his lavish wedding celebrations in Guatemala last weekend.
Santiago Nieto, President López Obrador’s anti-corruption czar, announced his resignation on Twitter on Monday night, explaining that he didn’t want to have a negative impact on the government’s project to transform Mexico.
“Due to criticisms derived from the actions of third parties related to a personal and transparent event, I decided to present my resignation as head of the UIF. My loyalty is with President López Obrador, my love for [my new wife] Carla Humphrey,” he wrote.
Nieto’s resignation came after some of his wedding guests – who flew south on the same private jet – were detained at the Guatemala City airport because police found US $35,000 in undeclared cash in a suitcase that belonged to the personal assistant of the general director of El Universal, one of Mexico’s leading daily newspapers.
Erika Telich told police that the money belonged to her boss, Juan Francisco Ealy, and that he took it to Guatemala because he planned to use it to pay for medical expenses in Los Angeles, where he intended to travel on Monday after the wedding.
Guatemalan authorities confiscated the cash, which may in fact have been a gift for the newlyweds, according to media speculation.
Another wedding guest, now-former Mexico City tourism minister Paola Félix Díaz, resigned due to the optics of flying into the Guatemalan capital on a private jet when she is the member of a government that – like its federal counterpart – holds itself up as an example of austerity and rectitude.
Although Nieto attributed his resignation to the actions of others, questions have been raised about his capacity to pay for a sumptuous wedding at an exclusive hotel in Antigua, a pretty colonial city just outside Guatemala City. Regardless of whether he paid for it or not, it didn’t look good for the federal government’s anti-corruption chief to host such an extravagant wedding.
López Obrador, who frequently rails against the excesses of past officials and quips “there can’t be a rich government with poor people,” described the events in Guatemala as a “scandalous affair” and advised officials to act with “moderation and austerity.”
Nieto’s tenure at the helm of the UIF was not, however, devoid of controversy. Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero last year indirectly accused him of failing to respect the right to the presumption of innocence after he made public remarks about cases involving ex-cabinet secretary Rosario Robles, ex-Pemex chief Emilio Lozoya and ex-Pemex workers’ union leader Carlos Romero Deschamps, among other high-profile former officials.
Pablo Gómez, a 75-year-old former lawmaker considered a close ally of López Obrador, is the new head of the UIF, the president’s office said in a statement.
Gómez is also a National Autonomous University-trained economist and a professor, the office noted, adding that he is well known for his “career in favor of social causes and human rights beginning with the students’ movement of 1968.”
Migrants climb aboard a truck to hitch a ride. ben wein
The migrants caravan that left Tapachula, Chiapas, 17 days ago has changed course: its destination is no longer Mexico City, but the United States border, caravan leader Irineo Mújica said on Monday.
The director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders) said he will try to organize another caravan of several thousand migrants who will join the existing one and meet in Veracruz before marching north together.
The convoy achieved a milestone on Sunday when it left Chiapas and crossed into Oaxaca. But the migrants did not get a warm welcome.
They stayed in the town of Los Corazones in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where tensions ran high as young men on motorcycles circled the main square. Some were armed, many migrants claimed.
On Monday the caravan arrived in Chahuites where they were initially blocked over fears the migrants would spread COVID-19, according to a report by Al Jazeera. Once they were permitted to enter the town they found many of its stores had closed and were unable to purchase supplies.
The caravan’s original plan — to appeal for visas in Mexico City — was one of compromise, offering an opportunity for negotiation by a government under pressure from the United States to stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border.
Now, with the new plan to head directly to the border, in greater numbers, the political pressure has increased on the government.
The National Immigration Institute said its offer still stands to grant humanitarian visas to migrants who “face some degree of vulnerability,” which would include their families.
The administrative process would take place in offices in Campeche, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Querétaro and Morelos, the institute said. However, it did not confirm whether the visas would include freedom of movement and the right to work across the whole country, or would be restricted to certain states.
In recognition of the mistrust felt by the migrants, the institute assured that it would not try to take them back to Tapachula.
