# News & Current Events > World News & Affairs >  Mexico.

## Pauls' Revere

http://news.trust.org/item/20180630120000-8illo

NAHUATZEN, Mexico, June 30 (Reuters) - Mexican voters will stream to the polls this Sunday in a pivotal presidential contest, but leaders representing tens of thousands of indigenous *people have vowed to block voting in their communities to protest a system they say has failed them.*

Residents here have destroyed campaign signs and set up blockades to prevent the government from delivering ballots. Election officials have declared 16 towns here "unviable," and will not likely risk confrontation to force polling stations to open.

But Arriola said the Purepecha have learned the hard way not to pin their hopes on promises coming from politicians, even ones that purport to have their best interests in mind.

"Our roads, schools and health care have been in the gutter for more than 40 years," he said.

Nahuatzen is part of *a growing movement among Mexico's indigenous communities, who are seeking self-rule and turning their backs on mainstream elections.*

The growing complaints of indigenous Mexicans appear to track a broader restlessness in the country, where widespread political corruption, drug violence and entrenched poverty have fueled discontent.

*Support for democracy among Mexicans plummeted from slightly more than 70 percent in 2004 to just under half last year, according to data from the Latin America Public Opinion Project.*

Anger over widespread illegal logging believed to be organized by drug gangs sparked the unrest in Cheran. Outraged residents expelled their mayor and the local police force, whom they accused of being complicit. In 2012, citizens began to set up a new governing council based on indigenous customs.

During mid-term elections in 2015, 11 polling stations in four more municipalities joined Cheran in blocking balloting.

Pedro Chavez, president of Cheran's indigenous governing council, said he is pleased that the movement has expanded yet again during this presidential election year.

*"We can be an inspiration for free self-determination and a lesson about the rights of native peoples," said Chavez, speaking outside his nearly-completed traditional wood-plank home.*

The rights of Mexico's indigenous poor last commanded the nation's attention just after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect in 1994 and the Zapatista National Liberation Army issued a "declaration of war" against the government.

A 12-day battle ensued, claiming at least 140 lives.

*"Free determination (for indigenous communities) is something that's now being discussed for the first time since the Zapatista revolt," said Barcenas, the attorney.*

But, in Arantepacua, another restive Michoacan community which is boycotting the election, Dionisio Lopez said he is finished casting ballots.

*"It's all one big mafia. We having nothing but pure corruption here in Mexico and it's proven," he said. "Why pretend otherwise?"* (Reporting by David Alire Garcia in Michoacan and Berengere Sim in Mexico City; Editing by Marla Dickerson)

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## AngryCanadian

> Support for democracy among Mexicans plummeted from slightly more than 70 percent in 2004 to just under half last year, according to data from the Latin America Public Opinion Project.


I am not surprised. I do hope to see this trend in America in future. When they reazlie both parties arent working for the people.

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## Swordsmyth

As expected,  Mexico has just elected its first leftist president in decades, with  Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMLO) winning in a landslide and a near  majority outright, or 49% of the vote early exit polls showed;  right-left coalition leader Ricardo Anaya, in distant second place with  27% and the incumbent PRI party's Jose Antonio Meade, with 18%.
  And, as Bloomberg headlines flash red, Obrador is now _de facto_ president as his main rivals have conceded:

MEXICO'S LOPEZ OBRADOR SET TO WIN AS MAIN RIVALS CONCEDE
And, adding to the concerns that AMLO may start rolling back  energy privatization programs and issue more debt, is that his Morena  party just won a majority in the Lower House:

MEXICO'S OBRADOR POISED TO GET MAJORITY IN LOWER HOUSE: POLL
The victory of AMLO, who suffered defeats in the last two  presidential votes, will hardly come as a surprise, as has led by double  digit numbers throughout this campaign. His popularity stems from his  antiestablishment platform (sound familiar?) which has been riding a  public revolt against entrenched corruption, rampant violence and an  economy that’s failed to deliver higher living standards for the common  man and especially the poor, which comprise about half of Mexico’s 125  million population. He also campaigned with promises for economic reform  that has been underlined by a desire to freeze prices of gasoline in  Mexico for 3 years, as well as a reduction of external investment in the  energy sector.
  AMLO has also promised to ramp up social programs and, like so many  of his antiestablishment peers, has vowed to fund them without  deficit-spending by eliminating graft, a claim which as Bloomberg  laconically adds, "has been greeted skeptically by economists." He’s  also promised not to nationalize companies or quit Nafta. Investors are  worried however that he may cancel oil contracts signed as part of  outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto’s energy reforms.


As Bloomberg notes,  Lopez Obrador has promised to govern as a pragmatist. Still, his  procession toward victory has alarmed many investors and business  leaders, who worry that he’ll roll back privatization of the energy  industry and push the country into debt by spending more on social  programs.
 Those concerns will be amplified if Lopez Obrador’s Morena party wins  majorities in both houses of Congress, which earlier surveys had  suggested is likely.With the election outcome widely expected, there was little reaction  in markets aside from the USDMXN which has enjoyed a relief rally,  although as in the case of the Turkish Lira, many expect this will be  short-lived as many anticipate Mexico's problems are set to worsen under  the new administration.
  What is more notable is that like so many other nations, Mexicans  have also opted for change and turned their back on the establishment  and the only two parties to have run the country in almost a century.  There are plenty of reasons they might want to kick out the governing  class.
 “We need a complete transformation in Mexico,” said Sergio Oceransky,  45, as he voted at a polling station in central Mexico City. “We’re  experiencing a tremendous political crisis that’s no longer  sustainable.”On the campaign trail, many voters say physical security was their  top concern. A decade-long war on drug cartels has pushed the murder  rate to record levels.


* * *
_As discussed previously, here are the main campaign issues that dominated the presidential campaign(via Reuters):_
**
**








More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ency-landslide

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## Swordsmyth

It appears that AMLO has long coattails, as his four-year-old National  Regeneration Movement Party (MORENA) has snagged 70 percent of the 300  seats currently reporting in the 500-seat Chamber of Deputies. So, AMLO  should have a friendly legislature when he takes office December 1.

More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/world...n-in-landslide

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## Swordsmyth

With about 57 percent of total votes in Mexico's legislative elections,  the coalition of populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has won  at least 30 of 128 seats in Mexico's Senate and at least 218 of 500  seats in the lower house, Mexico's National Electoral Institute reported  July 2.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ative-majority

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## Swordsmyth

Preliminary information from the National Electoral Council, reported  July 3, indicate that Lopez Obrador's National Regeneration coalition  will pick up about 69 seats in the Senate and about 309 in the lower  house. These figures will give Morena uncontested majorities in both houses of Congress.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...sional-control

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## Swordsmyth

The new Mexican government will not remove the energy sector reform  introduced by the previous administration in 2013, the president-elect’s  chief of staff told Bloomberg in an interview.
Andres  Manuel Lopez Obrador will review oil contracts for signs of corruption,  Alfonso Romo said, but "If anything happens, it would be done without  hurting private investment." If anything suspicious is found in any of  the contracts, Romo explained, the government will talk with the  companies concerned before any action is considered.
There was  considerable worry that the leftist Morena party candidate Obrador would  upend the reform after pledging during his campaign that Mexican oil  will never again fall into the hands of foreigners.
However,  people more familiar with the president-elect cautioned against this  anxiety, noting that Obrador is more pragmatic than idealistic, and a  lot of what’s done on the campaign trail stays on it. Romo’s interview  has supported this stance: the chief of staff said Obrador has no plans  to take away oil licenses, and for the time being, he has no plans to  overhaul the industry as Obrador had said during his campaign.

"What do we want to do? We want to take advantage of all of the  enthusiasm we’ve generated to fix everything we can," Romo told  Bloomberg. “Mexico has a necessity for lots of money for offshore  drilling.”
As long as private investment contributed to a recovery in production “no one will fight success."

More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...y-Reforms.html

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## Swordsmyth

_Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador‘s  transition team unveiled a plan Friday to shake up the fight against  crime, including reduced jail time but stiffer controls on weapons, as  the country reels from a militarized drug war._
 The concept of “transitional justice” is part of the incoming government’s security strategy,* Olga Sanchez,* Lopez Obrador’s proposed interior minister, told Reuters in an interview before her team unveiled the plan.
 Transitional justice typically involves leniency for those who admit  guilt, truth commissions to investigate atrocities and the granting of  reparations for some victims.
“Not only will it be amnesty, it will be a law to reduce jail time,” Sanchez said.
 “We will propose decriminalization, create truth commissions, we will  attack the causes of poverty, we will give scholarships to the youth  and we will work in the field to get them out of the drug situation,”  she said.Lopez Obrador, a leftist who handily won the presidency Sunday, wants  to rewrite the rules of the drug war, suggesting a negotiated peace and  amnesty for some of the very people currently targeted by security  forces.
 Sanchez had said the new administration, which takes office on Dec.  1, would move fast to reconsider drug policies and use of the military  that, despite toppling some high-profile kingpins, failed to prevent  more than 200,000 murders since first adopted in 2006.
“It’s an integrated public policy,” Sanchez said, the aim of which was to “pacify” the nation.Lopez Obrador’s pick for security minister,* Alfonso Durazo*,  said the administration would aim to remove a significant part of the  military from the streets within three years while professionalizing  local police.
 He said the government would combat corruption in the ports and seek  to establish stricter customs controls to stop illegal weapons from  entering the country.

More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/mexico...ug-war/5646901

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s newly elected President-to-be Andrés Manuel López Obrador  routinely railed against Donald Trump’s strong border policy while on  the campaign trail, calling illegal immigration to the U.S. a “human  right,” and encouraged more to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
 “And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will  defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants  in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their  towns and find a life in the United States.” He then said that  immigration is “a human right we will defend.” (*RELATED: Top Mexican Presidential Candidate Calls for Mass Migration to the U.S.*).
 As the United States ramps up enforcement against illegal  immigration, Mexico has been doing much of the same. Since implementing  their Southern Border Plan in 2014, Mexico has deported more than  500,000 illegal immigrants from Central America, more than the U.S. has  sent back over the same time period. (*RELATED: Mexico Has More Than Doubled Deportations Of Central Americans So Far This Year*).


Will that fight against illegal immigration at Mexico’s southern  border be suspended by Obrador once he becomes President? Given his  pro-open borders stance with the United States, will his attitude be the  same with Mexico’s neighbors to the South?
 Of course not. Just like most American politicians, President-elect  Obrador is a complete hypocrite. Not only will Mexico continue enforcing  their immigration laws while criticizing ours, they’re going to be  putting that enforcement on steroids. The media criticizes the U.S. for  protecting our borders, but not Mexico, so it’s unsurprising that plans  to beef up their equivalent of Border Patrol are reported on  uncritically from the media.
 According to Bloomberg;  “Obrador is planning his own border police force to stop undocumented  immigrants, drugs and guns from crossing into the country from Central  America, his future chief of public security said. Picked by Lopez  Obrador, Alfonso Durazo stressed that the new force would be part of a  larger regional development effort to ease the poverty and violence that  lead so many Central Americans to cross into Mexico.” Stopping illegal  immigration to prevent the flow of drugs and crime from entering a  country? Where have we heard that before?

More at: https://thepoliticalinsider.com/mexi...&utm_content=1

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## Swordsmyth

The  head of the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the ruling  party for the last seven decades, has resigned following a massive  electoral defeat in the July 1 election. 
 PRI  Leader and former Governor Rene Juarez Cisneros stepped down from his  position on Monday after his party’s candidate José Antonio Meade lost  overwhelmingly to the left-wing National Regeneration Movement coalition  party candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who won with over 50%. 
 According to Reuters, the PRI image has been damaged by several corruption scandals, the growing violence in Mexico, and the struggling economy. 

 Cisneros, who only took over the party in May of this year, advised the PRI to reconsider their strategy. 
 "The future transformation of the PRI should be the size of the current defeat," he said. 

More at: https://www.dailywire.com/news/33152...ontent=2266209

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's leftist President-elect Andrews Manuel López Obrador  announced plans to cut his salary from his predecessor Enrique Peña  Nieto's $171,000 per year (270,000 pesos) to $68,544 - about enough to  survive in San Francisco with three roommates.

  "*What we want is for the budget to reach everybody*,"  López Obrador told reporters on Sunday. The President-elect said that  he would have reduced his salary further, however he doesn't want to  stoke resentment among future Cabinet members who are leaving private  sector positions and academic posts that already pay more than the new  ceiling for public officials. 
  López Obrador then reiterated several campaign promises, including  cuts on taxpayer-funded perks for high-level government officials, such  as private medical insurance, chauffeurs and bodyguards - though  considering the 130 candidates who were assassinated during the election, he may want to reconsider on the bodyguards.
 At the same time, he doubled down on pledges to stem corruption.  Mexico ranks 135 out of 180 countries in Transparency International's  2017 Corruption Perception Index, with higher numbers indicating higher  levels of corruption.
  Public officials will have to disclose their assets, he said, and corruption will be considered a serious offense. -LA TimesObrador's supporters cheered the proposals.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...elf-60-pay-cut

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's  leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been enjoying a  honeymoon of sorts even with conservative businessmen, but was rebuffed  by the Zapatista rebels.The  leftist Zapatistas issued a statement Tuesday denying they have had any  contact with Lopez Obrador's team and saying they don't want any.
The  Zapatista leadership taunted Lopez Obrador, noting his aides made an  error in saying Pope Francis would participate in their planned forums  on bringing peace to violence-wracked Mexico.
"It  is none of our business, but those who claim to represent 'real change'  are making a bad choice, starting off with lies, slander and threats,"  the statement said. "They already did it with the pope, and now with the  EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army)."
After winning a landslide victory in the July 1 elections, Lopez Obrador went on an offensive to reconcile with foes.
But  the latest disagreement started when Alejandro Solalinde, one of the  president-elect's advisers, announced he was setting up initial contact  with rebels who have long feuded with Lopez Obrador.
The decision by the Zapatistas to boycott the 2006 presidential elections may have led to his narrow defeat that year.
The  rebels, who staged a brief armed uprising in 1994 for greater  indigenous rights, have largely stayed off the national stage since  2001, but remain strong in several townships they control in the  southern state of Chiapas.
The  Zapatistas note that Lopez Obrador won't take office until Dec. 1. and  hasn't been formally recognized by the country's electoral tribunal as  the man who will succeed Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexicos-p...141300589.html

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's electoral authorities have imposed a USD 10-million fine on President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's party for fraudulently using money from a trust fund for earthquake victims in its campaign.
The National Electoral Institute ruled the anti-establishment leftist's Morena party broke  the law by raising 78.8 million pesos (USD 4.1 million) for victims of  the September 19 earthquake that devastated central Mexico, killing 360  people and causing scores of buildings to collapse.   

 It is unclear how much of the money actually went to earthquake  victims. And even if it did, political parties are not allowed to give  money to the public, the electoral institute said.
Lopez Obrador,  who won a landslide victory in Mexico's July 1 elections, personally  announced the fund several days after the earthquake, encouraging all  Mexicans to "do your part" to help the victims.
But in a 10 to one  vote, the electoral institute's general council ruled the fund broke  the law, imposing a 197-million-peso fine.
Around half the money donated to the fund was in cash and came from unknown sources, said council member Ciro Murayama.  Most of the money - USD 3.4 million - was withdrawn from the account via checks made out mainly to party leaders.
"This is not an isolated case of irregular activities, it was a whole plot to obtain parallel financing," Murayama said.
Lopez  Obrador, who ran on an anti-corruption platform, says the fund was  "completely transparent" and has vowed to appeal the ruling.
The electoral institute also fined the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party USD 1.9 million for illegally using state resources for its campaign in the northern state of Chihuahua, and the conservative National Action Party USD 158,000 for accepting a donation from a company in person.
All three rulings can be appealed.

https://www.business-standard.com/ar...1900197_1.html

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's next foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said companies operating  in Mexico must meet the same human, environmental and labor standards  they would have to meet in their own countries, Reuters reported July  25.

More at:  https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-official-says

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## Swordsmyth

The incoming administration of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez  Obrador will cut back funding for Mexico's oil and gas unions, Milenio  reported July 27.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...nion-subsidies

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s national oil company is about to receive an injection of cash.

Incoming  President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, has promised to  invest around 175 billion pesos ($9.4 billion) into the state-owned  energy companies. One of the goals is to reverse the decade and a half  of declining oil production.
“Fourteen years ago, oil production was 3.4 million barrels a day. Now it’s 1.9 million barrels a day,” AMLO said  at a news conference. “In 14 years, we’ve lost 1.5 million barrels a  day in production, a downward trend because the oil industry was  abandoned.”

More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...-Into-Oil.html

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## Swordsmyth

The general secretary of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD),  Angel Avila, offered President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador his  party's votes to repeal Mexico's 2013 energy reforms, SDP Noticias  reported Aug. 2. On Aug. 1, the Citizens Movement Party (MC) also  offered its votes to Lopez Obrador to reverse high energy prices  resulting from the reforms.

Support from the PRD and MC in both houses of legislature gives Lopez  Obrador sufficient votes to bring Mexico's energy reforms to a vote, and  puts him very close to the two-thirds majority necessary to repeal  them.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...energy-reforms

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## Swordsmyth

When the National Hydrocarbons Commission of Mexico scheduled  its first-ever shale tender for September this year, the July elections  were obviously not front and center in the thoughts of its management.  Yet now, this tender may be as good as gone after President-elect Andres  Manuel Lopez Obrador said last week,“We will no longer use that method  to extract petroleum.”
Obrador was responding to a question about  the risks of hydraulic fracturing, the technology that enabled the U.S.  shale oil and gas boom and that some believed could be replicated in  Mexico, especially for gas production.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated  in 2013 that Mexico has unproved but technically recoverable shale gas  resources of 545.2 trillion cubic feet. Most of this, around 343  trillion cubic feet plus about 6.3 billion barrels of oil (half of the  total shale oil resource base), is located in the Burgos Basin, which is connected to the Eagle Ford shale play in Texas and covers a much larger area.
While  these resources remain largely untapped, Mexico’s natural gas demand is  rising, and with it, the country’s dependence on U.S. imports. The  Energy Ministry estimated  at the beginning of this year that gas demand will average 8.32 billion  cubic feet in 2018, compared with 7.99 billion cubic feet in 2017. This  will further rise to 9.66 billion cubic feet in 2019. By 2031, gas  demand will have risen by 26.8 percent from 2016 levels, the ministry,  known as SENER, said at the time. 

To date, Mexico imports as much as 85 percent of the gas it consumes,  the head of the Hydrocarbons Commission, Juan Carlos Zepeda, recently said,  adding that this makes increasing natural gas production a higher  priority than boosting oil production. Such a heavy reliance on imports,  according to Zepeda, carries not just geopolitical risk but also  operational risks: a natural disaster could disrupt supply.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...er-Happen.html

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## Swordsmyth

Though there were concerns that Mexico might skew hard to the left  due to Lopez Obrador's nationalist and populist rhetoric, two of the  president-elect's early security picks are decidedly mainstream. One  selection is Olga Sanchez Cordero, Lopez Obrador's candidate for  secretary of the interior. President Ernesto Zedillo initially appointed  Sanchez Cordero to Mexico's high court, the National Supreme Court of  Justice, where she served two terms from 1995 to 2015.
Another  significant pick is Alfonso Durazo, who worked in the administrations of  both Fox and Carlos Salinas. Durazo has been tapped to lead the  Secretariat of Public Security, which was a Cabinet-level organization  created under the Fox administration in 2000. The agency was dissolved  under the Pena Nieto administration in 2013, and its functions were  folded into the Interior Ministry in the form of the National Security  Commission. The commission now oversees the federal police, the federal  protection service and the federal prison system. Lopez Obrador also  plans to restore the public security ministry to a Cabinet-level agency.


On the campaign trail, Lopez Obrador vaguely discussed the  possibility of somehow working a deal with cartel leaders to reduce  violence. He also ambiguously talked about offering amnesty for  narcotics crimes, producing a great deal of controversy. However, since  the election, the details of the proposed amnesty have begun emerging,  allaying the fears of many.  
At a July 7 news conference, Durazo  and Sanchez Cordero said women and children coerced into working for  criminal organizations or farmers forced to grow illegal drugs would be  the primary beneficiaries of pardons. Those involved in violent crimes  such as homicide, kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking and sexual  assault would not be eligible. Sanchez Cordero also said some repentant  drug traffickers might receive amnesty if they help solve serious crimes  and locate the bodies of victims.
This definition of amnesty is  clearly not a blanket that will apply to all cartel figures. In fact,  most Mexican cartel groups and street gangs are involved in violent  crime against people – it would be hard to find a Mexican criminal group  that has not been part of the brutality wracking the country.  Therefore, the number of criminals who would qualify for the amnesty  will be quite limited – if any are even interested in applying for it to  begin with (or think they would survive the process).
Hot wars among Mexico's cartel groups  are feeding the country's record number of homicides. The carnage can  be found in border towns such as Tijuana, Juarez and Reynosa; in drug  production areas such as Guerrero state; at retail drug sales points  such as Mexico City and Cancun; and at hot spots for petroleum theft  such as Guanajuato. It will clearly take more than an offer of amnesty  to people involved in nonviolent crime to solve this array of problems –  especially given the lucrative nature of these illegal acts. It appears  that the amnesty proposal was just a campaign promise that is now being  given lip service, rather than a broad program to help criminals return  to civil society. 

Sanchez Cordero has also stated that with marijuana now legal or  decriminalized in Canada and several U.S. states, it doesn't make much  sense for Mexico to continue to spend so much time and resources  prosecuting cannabis cases and eradicating such crops. At the same time,  the Lopez Obrador administration will consider decriminalizing the  recreational use of marijuana in Mexico, she said. While such a move  would certainly cause angst for the U.S. federal government, it would be  difficult for the United States to place too much pressure on Mexico  since it would follow decriminalization measures by Canada and several  U.S. states.

Sanchez Cordero also said the legalization and regulation of the opium  trade would be considered, perhaps permitting the sale of opium gum to  pharmaceutical companies. That policy shift would create a legal market  for the country's gomeros, as opium farmers are called, and perhaps  relax the grip of the drug cartels over the trade. It could also help  decrease the amount of Mexican heroin shipped to the United States. In  addition, legalizing the trade could help quell the intense fighting  over the control of opium-growing areas such as Guerrero state. 

Like the Pena Nieto administration before it, the Lopez Obrador  administration has promised it will remove the military from the war on  drugs. Durazo has said the public security ministry can be expanded to  assume the law enforcement role being performed by the military. This is  not unlike Pena Nieto's plan to create a 40,000-strong paramilitary police force or  gendarmerie. Durazo has also mentioned a plan to create a new border  police force to help keep illegal immigrants and illegal weapons out of  the country.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...ican-president

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## Pauls' Revere

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...D=ansmsnnews11

*A Mexican congresswoman has been kidnapped at gunpoint just a month and a half after she was first elected.*

_Mexico’s recent election—which was the largest ever in the country’s modern history —was also hailed as the nation’s bloodiest. More than 120 politicians and political candidates were reported killed since September 2017.

More than 35,000 people in Mexico have gone missing, and over 200,000 have been murdered since 2006. Last year saw a record number of killings, with the country’s interior ministry reporting 29,168 in total—the highest level since the government started keeping records in 1997._

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## Swordsmyth

A committee of lawmakers in the Mexican state of Guerrero approved a  draft law to decriminalize the production and sale of opium for  pharmaceutical purposes, El Heraldo de Mexico reported Aug. 15. The law  will go to a vote in the state's Congress, after which it may be sent to  Mexico's federal Congress for approval.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ium-production

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## Swordsmyth

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry praised the goal set out by Mexico’s  incoming president to end massive gasoline and diesel imports, nearly  all of which come from the United States, as a measure that will boost  prosperity in its southern neighbor. 

During a visit on Wednesday to the Mexican capital in which he met  with both current officials as well as key advisers to President-elect  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Perry brushed off concerns that U.S.  refiners stand to lose their biggest foreign market. 
“It’s a good  goal for Mexico. I tip my hat to the president-elect for having that as  a goal,” said Perry, a former governor of Texas, the most prominent  energy producing and refining U.S. state. “I hope they’re successful  with that transition.” 
So  far this year, Mexico has imported an average of 1.19 million barrels  per day (bpd) of fuel including gasoline and diesel, according to the  U.S. Energy Information Administration. 
Fuel imports now  represent 60 percent of the country’s total consumption, as crude  processing at Mexico’s domestic refineries has steadily declined. 


Perry pointed to growing South American markets as potential new  buyers of U.S. refined products, noting that Venezuela’s oil output has  plummeted amid a major economic crisis. 
“We’re going to have more markets, most likely, than we’re going to have product,” he said. 

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...KBN1L1289?il=0

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## Swordsmyth

Esteban Moctezuma, the nominee for secretary of education in the next  administration, said that the next government plans to amend  constitutional and legal reforms that overhauled Mexico's education  system in 2013. The government will hold public forums with  stakeholders, such as teachers' unions, to take suggestions on how to  alter the reform. Moctezuma did not specify which parts of the reform  would change. The government will likely decide on the changes after the  consultations are finished and when it's ready to hold a national  referendum on the measures.

In 2013, the government approved constitutional changes to the country's  educational system, including instituting evaluations to hold teachers  accountable for poor job performance. Before then, teachers had not been  subject to particularly strict performance requirements, and certain  sections of teachers' unions resisted the measure. For years after the  reform, branches of the unions in the states of Michoacan, Morelos and  Guerrero were particularly active in resisting the evaluations through  frequent, disruptive protests. Starting in 2016, Lopez Obrador made  repeal or amendment of education reform a key campaign promise. 

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...ucation-reform

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is considering  changes to the country's energy sector that would allow state-run oil  company Petroleos Mexicanos to choose its own private partners, directly  award blocs without a bidding process, and become the sole marketer of  oil produced by private companies in production sharing contracts, The  Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 22.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...sector-reforms

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico continues to descend into chaos, as a record number of  homicide cases were opened last month, the Ministry of Public Security  said Tuesday.

  The ministry states 2,599 homicide cases were opened in July - an  average of 84 per day, for a total of 3,017 registered victims.
  This is the highest monthly toll ever record since Mexico began  keeping stats on homicide cases in the late 1990s. The previous record  of 2,894 was set in May.
  In 2018, there have been 16,399 homicide cases opened in the first  seven months, which represent a 14 percent increase over the same period  last year, said the Los Angeles Times.
  Last year was the country’s most violent period on record, with more than 25,000 homicide investigations into 31,174 death.
  If the parabolic death trend continues, 2018 could go in the record books as the most violent year ever.

  Scott Stewart, a Mexico analyst at the Texas-based  intelligence firm Stratfor, spoke with the Los Angeles Times about the  problematic situation in Mexico. He said Mexican authorities did not  have much choice but to splinter the cartels. “You can’t let them get to  the point where they can actually challenge the state,” he said.
  There is no doubt that Mexico’s kingpin strategy of killing  or arresting cartel heads has had a destabilizing effect in the region,  he explained.
_“Years ago you had large cartels that were fairly dominant in many areas and it was fairly tranquil,”_ he said._ “Now there’s so much friction, and it leads to violence across the board.”_
  Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, recently acknowledged  that the government’s strategy to fracture drug cartels has, by some  means, failed.
  “I am the first to recognize that, although we made  progress, it was not enough to achieve the great goal of security,” Peña  Nieto said at a news conference earlier this week alongside the  president-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office in  December.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...descends-chaos

----------


## Swordsmyth

> Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is considering  changes to the country's energy sector that would allow state-run oil  company Petroleos Mexicanos to choose its own private partners, directly  award blocs without a bidding process, and become the sole marketer of  oil produced by private companies in production sharing contracts, The  Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 22.
> 
> More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...sector-reforms


Mexico will likely halt oil auctions for at least two years, dealing a blow to its oil industry.
Mexico’s  president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will reportedly  suspend oil auctions for at least two years, according to the Wall Street Journal,  with some experts believing that his administration won’t hold any new  oil auctions at all during his six-year term. He has also vowed to  review the 107 contracts already awarded to companies through auctions  over the last few years to check for corruption, although he has said he  would not try to invalidate them so long as they check out.
Also,  AMLO wants to revise some of the energy laws that govern the oil and  gas sector, which could dramatically alter the landscape for foreign oil  and gas companies. He long opposed the historic reforms that ended  seven decades of state control over the energy sector, although he  moderated his position during this year’s presidential campaign. Rolling  back the reforms would be exceedingly difficult, requiring a change to  the country’s constitution.
Instead, AMLO wants more modest,  though still significant, legislative changes. The WSJ reports that he  will pursue legislative tweaks that bolster the power of state-owned  Pemex, while weakening the regulatory body that has pursued a  technocratic approach and presided over the oil auctions over the last  three years.
AMLO’s desired changes include allowing Pemex to  choose its own private-sector partners, without needing the approval  from regulators. Current rules require Pemex to partner with the highest  bidder for blocks put up for a farm-out. He wants the government to be  able to award Pemex with oil blocks directly. And he wants to make Pemex  the sole marketer of oil produced by private firms, the WSJ reports.

On top of that, the WSJ says AMLO will push to raise local content  rules, which would require a higher percentage of domestic involvement  in oil projects. That means that if a company like ExxonMobil or Chevron  or some other outside entity wants to drill for oil in Mexico, it would  need to source a certain percentage of equipment and services from  within Mexico.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oi...-Industry.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has plans to build the  country’s largest refinery with a capacity to produce 400,000 barrels  of gasoline daily, Reuters reports, citing comments by Obrador during a meeting with businessmen in Monterrey.
The  refinery would cost US$8 billion to build and construction could start  soon, which would see it complete within three years. Though Reuters  quoted Obrador as saying, “400,000 bpd of gasoline,” it added in its  report that the comments did not made it clear whether he was referring  to the crude oil processing capacity of the future facility or its  gasoline production capacity.
Currently, Mexico’s refineries have a  combined processing capacity of a maximum 1.6 million bpd of crude but,  Reuters notes, it has been working at just 40 percent capacity since  the start of the year because of accident-caused outages and operational  issues. Pemex, which operates the six refineries, also exported more  crude as prices improved internationally. In July, the state oil company  produced 213,000 bpd of gasoline.
Earlier  this year, Rocio Nahle, an adviser to Obrador and the most likely  candidate for the Energy Minister job, said “In a three-year period, at  the latest, we need to try to consume our own fuels and not depend on  foreign gasoline.” This would be bad for U.S. refiners, who export the  biggest portion of their production to Mexico. In the last few years,  Mexican imports of gasoline and diesel have risen to more than 800,000  bpd, representing over 66 percent of domestic demand.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-Refiners.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

Caravan from Honduras met by Mexican police.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/carava...ican-territory

_The 4,000-person strong-migrant caravan pushing north toward the United States initially stalled Friday morning at Guatemala's border with Mexico, where members debated the next step.

On the Mexican side of a border bridge, they were met by a wall of police with riot shields. About 50 migrants succeeded in pushing through before officers unleashed pepper spray and the rest retreated. The chaos calmed somewhat as migrants formed lines stretching across the bridge and some even returned to the Guatemalan side to buy water and food.

But others, tired of waiting, jumped off the bridge into the Suchiate River. Migrants organized a rope brigade to ford its muddy waters, and some floated across on rafts operated by local residents who charged a dollar or two to make the crossing.

Manelich Castilla, the Mexican federal police chief, told Foro TV that his forces successfully prevented a violent breach by the migrants. But in a separate interview with Milenio television, he said people not part of the group had attacked police with rocks and fireworks.

"It will be under the conditions that have been said since the start," Castilla said. "Orderly, with established procedures, never through violence or force as a group of people attempted."

Earlier Friday, Mexico's ambassador to Guatemala said his country intended to enforce what he called a policy of orderly entry in the face of the thousands trying to cross.

Ambassador Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno added that more than 100 migrants had been allowed to cross the bridge to apply for refugee status, including some who were from the caravan and others who were not.

Trump has told Mexico that he is monitoring the country’s response. On Thursday he threatened to close the U.S. border if Mexico didn't stop the caravan. Later that day he tweeted a video of Mexican federal police deploying at the Guatemalan border and wrote: "Thank you Mexico, we look forward to working with you!"

Still, Mexican officials said those with passports and valid visas — a small portion of those trying to cross — would be let in immediately.

Migrants who want to apply for refuge in Mexico were welcome to do so, they said, but any who decide to cross illegally and are caught will be detained and deported.

The first members of the caravan began arriving in the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman on buses and trucks early Thursday, but the bulk of the group sloshed into town on foot in a downpour late in the afternoon and into the evening._

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that his  government will cancel construction on the new Mexico City International  Airport after citizens voted against the project in a recent  referendum, El Financiero reported Oct. 29. Instead, his government will  focus on building new runways at the military base in Santa Lucia.

To enforce the referendum's results, the president will likely need to  either negotiate compensation with the companies already involved in the  airport's construction or order the airport seized through an  expropriation degree. U.S. or Canadian companies affected by the  canceled contracts may take Mexico's government to arbitration, and such  decisions may heighten concerns among foreign investors that Mexico's  president will put other projects to a referendum. 

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ter-referendum

----------


## Swordsmyth

A Mexican federal judge will rule whether the country's recent  referendum, which asked citizens whether construction should continue on  the international airport in Mexico City, was constitutional, Milenio  reported Oct. 29.

The judge is highly likely to rule against the referendum, which would  force President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to either back down  from enforcing the results or push forward with an illegal plan to  expropriate the airport.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...stitutionality

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has met legislators  from the Labor Party and Social Encounter Party to present a legislative  agenda that includes a law to guarantee that annual salary increases  will never fall below the inflation rate, Vanguardia reported Nov. 6.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...wage-increases

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has requested a  referendum on the planned Dos Bocas refinery, Argus Media reported Nov.  7. The refinery is a key energy project proposed by the administration  of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to reduce Mexico's  reliance on imported fuels.

Lopez Obrador called for a public referendum on the construction of  Mexico City's new airport in October and the PRI is now using Lopez  Obrador's penchant for direct democracy against his policies. 

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...bocas-refinery

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will reportedly call  on different, unspecified sectors of the population to join an effort  to draft what he dubbed a "moral constitution," El Financiero reported  Nov. 15. Lopez Obrador referred to such a moral constitution repeatedly  during his election campaign, with most observers interpreting it as a  desire to modify the constitution.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...l-constitution

The Democratic People's Republic of Mexico?

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's ruling National Regeneration Movement, or Morena, has presented  a legal draft in the Senate to amend the country's mining code, El  Economista reported Nov. 21.

The proposed changes significantly raise the risk to companies  considering entering or already involved in Mexico's mining sector. The  reforms would increase the chances of running afoul of government  regulations by not meeting social obligations stipulated in the law.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...sector-reforms

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has  said his government would pardon individuals accused of corruption  whose trials have not yet begun, El Informador reported Nov. 20. But  Ricardo Monreal, the Senate coordinator for Lopez Obrador's National  Regeneration Movement, later said he did not agree with the idea for a  blanket pardon.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-senate-leader

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## Swordsmyth

Fears  of tougher mining regulation in Mexico under incoming President Andres  Manuel Lopez Obrador are taking over investor sentiment, with some of  the top stocks falling for the third consecutive day.Industrias  Penoles SAB, Grupo Mexico SAB and Fresnillo Plc extended losses after  Morgan Stanley downgraded the stocks on concerns that Mexico’s new  congress is considering as many as 11 bills or resolutions that could  materially impact mining companies operating in the country. On Tuesday,  an initiative from Morena party Senator Angelica Garcia called for  increasing surveillance of mining activities and giving greater powers  to communities and the government.
“We  believe Mexican mining equities will decouple from fundamentals for the  foreseeable future given the heightened uncertainty around the  regulatory framework,” Carlos de Alba, an equity analyst at Morgan  Stanley, said in the report. “The risk ranges widely and could be  material.”
Proposed  initiatives include empowering the Ministry of Economy to declare  certain zones as not viable for mining, and revoke permits and existing  concessions that had a negative social impact. They also contemplate  charging Mexican agencies with overseeing the social and environmental  impact of mining activities.
The  first nine bills tabled in congress could impact Mexican miners’ Ebitda  that originates from mines in the country by as much as 3 percent for  Fresnillo, 2 percent for Penoles and 1 percent for Grupo Mexico, Morgan  Stanley’s report said. Miners would also see a 5 percent reduction in  revenue from mining operations located in indigenous territories.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-mi...184027581.html

----------


## goldenequity

Thanks for this thread.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has asked the armed  forces for support in creating a national guard for Mexico, ADN reported  Nov. 25. Lopez Obrador has called on members of the military to join  the new national guard, which will be a nominally civilian force.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...national-guard

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## Swordsmyth

The constitutional points committee in Mexico's lower house of Congress  will discuss and vote on a reform to allow more frequent, binding  referendums in Mexico, Milenio reported Nov. 26. The proposed change  would permit binding referendums to be called at any time. According to  the current law, such votes must concur with a federal election.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...rendum-reforms

----------


## Swordsmyth

The conditions are not appropriate to reduce Mexico's value-added tax  and income tax in border states, the presidents of the budget and  treasury committees of the country's Senate and lower house have said,  El Financiero reported Nov. 22. Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel  Lopez Obrador has proposed reducing the value-added tax from 16 to 8  percent and lowering the income tax from 30 to 20 percent in border  states to spur economic growth. 

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...egislators-say

----------


## Schifference

If the US denies entry to these asylum seekers and chaos ensues on the Mexican side of the border, Mexico will have to address immigration themselves.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Rocio Nahle, the nominee for energy minister under Mexican  President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has said that the  government will suspend upstream oil and gas auctions for a two-year  evaluation period, Argus reported Nov. 29. Nahle has also said his  government would decide during this period whether it intends to  continue with upstream bidding rounds.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...d-gas-auctions

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Dec. 5 that no more  energy contracts will be awarded for three years, encouraging investors  that won tenders to start producing in that period, El Economista  reported. 

Mexico's government could use the announcement to justify future  government policy changes in the upstream oil and gas sector. Some of  the blocks that were auctioned are unlikely to produce within three  years due to the inherent difficulties in exploring for crude deposits.  Issues over funding new projects and building oil production  infrastructure often incur significant delays. Lopez Obrador's demands  for increased production may eventually be used to justify changes to  secondary legislation or even spark constitutional reform.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...zes-production

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's  new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday he was sending a  bill to Congress to eliminate presidential immunity, which the  anti-establishment leftist says has fueled corruption."We  are ending the impunity established in the constitution. It will now be  possible to put the president on trial like any other citizen," he told  a press conference.
"Of course, that means it will be possible to try him for corruption, including while he is still in office."

Under Mexico's current constitution, the president can only be tried for "high crimes" and acts of treason.


Lopez  Obrador also addressed backlash against his plan to slash the salaries  of the highest-earning public servants and cap their pay at what he  himself now earns: 108,000 pesos (around $5,270) a month.
The  move has met with resistance from senior state employees, including in  the courts, the central bank, the finance ministry and state oil company  Pemex.
"The people voted for a change, and we are going to apply a policy of austerity," he said.
"When  a public official agrees to be paid 600,000 pesos a month, that's  corruption. In a country with so much poverty, for a public servant to  earn what some have been earning up to now, that is an act of  dishonesty."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-presi...175930953.html

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's  new government detailed plans Sunday to build an $8 billion oil  refinery in the home state of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and  to renovate six others as the oil-producing country attempts to lower  its dependence on imported fuel.Speaking  from the Dos Bocas port in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco, Lopez  Obrador blasted the neglect that has fallen on Mexico's oil  infrastructure and the idea that Mexico is better off buying fuel from  abroad.
"How  do we respond to that absurdity that we are dedicated to selling crude  oil and buying gasoline, as if we sold oranges and bought orange juice?"  he asked the crowd.
Lopez  Obrador, who took office Dec. 1, plans to direct 75 billion pesos  ($3.65 billion) of savings from a government austerity program into the  state oil company, Pemex, which has struggled to come up with extra  funds for expansion amid mounting pension obligations, high tax rates,  rampant fuel theft and declining output.
Pemex  is producing less than 1.8 billion barrels a day of crude, putting  Mexico on track for its 14th consecutive year of declines in oil output.
President  Lazaro Cardenas nationalized the industry in 1938, kicking out 17  foreign oil companies that Mexicans believed to be looting the country's  wealth. But Mexico's constitution was amended in 2013 to allow greater  private investment in oil and gas.
Lopez  Obrador dismissed the energy sector opening as a failure, saying that  foreign investment over four years has amounted to just 2.5 percent of  what Pemex invested during the same time period.
"The foreign investment didn't come," he declared.
He  also hinted that the planned refinery expansions would be taken on by  Mexican companies, saying: "We're going to place our trust in Mexican  entrepreneurialism."
Energy  Minister Rocio Nahle said Mexico will import 80 percent of its gasoline  needs this year because the country's refineries work, on average, at  38 percent of capacity due to a lack of maintenance and investment. She  said the refinery overhaul should enable Pemex to meet 70 percent of  Mexico's gasoline needs.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mexic...213627693.html

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's Finance Minister Carlos Urzua has implemented a hiring freeze  of government employees as part of the new government's planned  austerity measures under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, El  Financiero reported Dec. 10. The suspension will be temporary until a  new set of hiring guidelines can be issued.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ral-government

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's new government will begin discussions to approve a law intended  to circumvent a Dec. 7 Supreme Court ruling that blocked President  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from implementing salary caps for federal  officials, El Economista reported Dec. 10. Lopez Obrador has attempted  to amend the country's federal wage legislation to cap government  salaries at 108,000 pesos ($5,300) a month. 

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...e-court-ruling

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## angelatc

> Lopez Obrador has attempted to amend the country's federal wage legislation to cap government salaries at 108,000 pesos ($5,300) a month


How can anybody be expected to live in Mexico on that????

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## Swordsmyth

Sen. Ricardo Monreal, the coordinator for the ruling National  Regeneration Movement, has said he will ask the Mexican prosecutor  general to deliver a report on alleged corruption by members of the  nation's judiciary, Sin Embargo reported Dec. 11. Monreal has also said  he would ask for a detailed report on the Mexican federal judiciary's  results in prosecuting corruption cases, including the number of cases  opened and the sentences delivered. 

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...corrupt-judges

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## Swordsmyth

The Mexican armed forces are working on a national security strategy  aimed at allowing them to combat common crime, such as theft, armed  robbery and homicide, Mexican Defense Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval  said Dec. 11, according to El Informador.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...urity-strategy

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's Labor Party has proposed a constitutional reform that would  change the appointment process for Supreme Court justices, El Dictamen  reported Dec. 11. The reform would allow the president to submit a list  of candidates to the National Electoral Institute, which would then  organize a popular election. Under the proposal, the court's 11 justices  each would serve six-year terms. 

The proposal to allow election of justices would increase executive  branch power over the country's federal judiciary. If the reform intends  the immediate replacement of current judges, it would reduce the role  of the courts as a key limiter on President Andres Manuel Lopez  Obrador's political agenda.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...s-are-selected

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## Swordsmyth

Legislators from Mexico's ruling party, the National Regeneration  Movement, and justices from the Mexican Supreme Court have reached an  agreement that would allow the government to implement salary caps for  federal employees, including federal judges, El Informador reported Dec.  13. The justices reportedly agreed to a government proposal that would  cut wages for federal employees hired after 2010. 

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...federal-salary

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador signed an initiative Wednesday  that would cancel the controversial education reforms of his predecessor  and announced plans to vastly expand free university education.Cancellation  of the reform was one of Lopez Obrador's most oft-repeated campaign  promises and a gift to teachers' unions, some of which felt forced into  accepting the reforms while others never dropped their vocal opposition.
"Promise kept, teachers," Lopez Obrador said.
The  reforms would be replaced by a system that establishes above all else  the right to an education. Lopez Obrador pledged a free, public, quality  education through the university level for anyone who wants to study.
To  accomplish that, he said the government would build 100 new public  universities and provide 300,000 university scholarships to  underprivileged students.
The  education reforms passed under President Enrique Pena Nieto were  written into the constitution, so Wednesday's initiative goes to the  Congress and then state legislatures. Lopez Obrador's coalition controls  both chambers of the Congress.
Proponents  of the reforms had lauded them as an important step toward improving  accountability and quality within Mexico's underperforming public  schools. They urged Lopez Obrador to give them time to be fully  implemented and bear fruit.
But  the demand for tests and evaluations of educators angered teachers, and  critics said the reforms didn't address the historic regional  inequality in schools.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-presi...151304753.html

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced a $5.7-billion,  two-year plan Friday to revamp the country's health care system for the  poor. He also said the country should consider a program for euthanasia,  or voluntary assisted dying, which is currently not allowed."Why  don't we implement some program for dignified death? Why not,  assisted?" said Lopez Obrador. "These are very important questions we  have to resolve among all of us."
The  plan aims to improve hospitalization services and ensure supplies of  medications for poor Mexicans not covered by one of the two main federal  health insurance programs.
Mexico  already has one system for private-sector workers whose employers  contribute health insurance payments, and another system for government  employees.
Farmers, the self-employed and street vendors fall outside those plans.
"More  than half the population has no health insurance," Lopez Obrador said.  "So this program is for them. It is for everybody, but the emphasis is  to care for those with no insurance, the poorest people."
At  present they are treated at a patchwork of state and local clinics,  which often don't have the level of care or medications they need.
But  under the new plan they would be eligible for emergency treatment at  hospitals in the two other, better-funded systems. Lopez Obrador pledged  to improve funding and staffing at the federal facilities.
Lopez  Obrador also said the federal government would take responsibility for  treating everyone in eight states in the impoverished southeast, the  first to join the plan. Mexico's other 24 states would be added eight at  a time, so all would be covered within two years.
Lopez  Obrador put special emphasis on providing medications; while Mexicans  can often get diagnosis, the medicines they need often simply aren't  available at hospitals and clinics.
Patients  are often forced to buy medications at private pharmacies with their  own funds, and there have been many instances of fraud and corruption in  the bidding to supply medications the government does buy.
Lopez Obrador said he would invite the United Nations to oversee purchasing programs to ensure transparency.

https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-presi...235010474.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's  new government aims by mid-February to put out tenders for the first  four sections of a planned railway connecting the southeast of the  country to Caribbean resorts, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said  on Sunday.At  a ceremony in southern Mexico to mark the start of work on the  so-called Mayan Train project, Lopez Obrador said the tenders for the  first four of seven planned sections of the railway should go out "in  two months at the latest."
The  railway is one of Lopez Obrador's signature campaign pledges. He hopes  it will spur tourism, create jobs and help stem migration to the United  States from the poorer south.
The  2019 budget draft sets aside 6 billion pesos ($297 million) for the  railway plan, but Lopez Obrador is looking for mostly private investment  to complete it. Each section of the railway would cost 15 billion to 18  billion pesos, he said.
To  encourage investment, Lopez Obrador said that for each kilometer of  track laid down, participating companies would receive an unspecified  subsidy from the government.
Tied  to that subsidy, he said, would be the condition that passage for  locals traveling on the train would be cheaper than the rates charged  for tourists or for freight.

More at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tende...211511563.html

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s oil major Pemex will spend US$23 billion next year, up 14  percent on 2018, with focus on already producing fields in the shallow  waters of the Gulf of Mexico as well as refining, Mexico’s 2019 budget  blueprint has revealed, as reported by Reuters.
Half  of the total will be directed towards exploration and production, with  some onshore deposits also benefitting from the investment alongside  shallow-water blocks. Exploration in the deep waters of the Gulf of  Mexico, however, will be put on hold.
Pemex’s chief executive  Octavio Romero noted at the presentation of the budget blueprint that so  far, deepwater exploration has not produced particularly impressive  results. “At best we’d have the first drop of oil by 2025,” Romero said,  after noting that the two previous governments had spent 41 percent of  total Pemex investments in deepwater exploration.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...ng-Fields.html

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## Swordsmyth

The Mexican government has decided to raise the minimum wage in border  regions to 176.72 pesos per day (almost $9) starting Jan. 1, 2019, La  Politica Online reported Dec. 17. Other regions in the country will  receive a minimum wage increase from 88 to 102.68 pesos (roughly $4.40  to $5.11) per day.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...border-regions

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## Pauls' Revere

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN1OH23X

The U.S. State Department issued a simultaneous statement saying *"The United States is committing $5.8 billion through public and private investment to promote institutional reforms and development in the Northern Triangle," a term that refers to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.*

Lopez Obrador's administration has said it is also interested in agricultural, forestry and tourism projects in southern Mexico, and the U.S. said it will contribute to those efforts.

The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation "is prepared to invest and mobilize $2 billion in additional funds for projects in southern Mexico that are viable and attract private sector investment," according to the statement.  "This amount is in addition to the $2.8 billion in projects for Mexico through OPIC's current investment pipeline."

Ebrard said "The commitments established here signify more than doubling foreign investment in southern Mexico starting in 2019."


OPIC: https://www.opic.gov/

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is a self-sustaining U.S. Government agency that helps American businesses invest in emerging markets. Established in 1971, OPIC provides businesses with the tools to manage the risks associated with foreign direct investment, fosters economic development in emerging market countries, and advances U.S. foreign policy and national security priorities. OPIC helps American businesses gain footholds in new markets, catalyzes new revenues and contributes to jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC fulfills its mission by providing businesses with financing, political risk insurance, advocacy and by partnering with private equity investment fund managers.

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## Swordsmyth

A  husband-and-wife political power couple who were the current and  ex-governors of the central Mexican state of Puebla died in a Christmas  Eve helicopter crash, officials announced.Mexico's  political class was stunned by the deaths of Gov. Martha Erika Alonso  and ex-Gov. Rafael Moreno Valle, a prominent figure in the opposition  National Action Party who had vied unsuccessfully for the party's  presidential nomination and its internal leadership. He was currently a  federal senator for the party.
Two pilots and a third passenger also died.
The  Agusta 109 helicopter fell about 10 minutes after taking off from a  heliport within the city of Puebla on a flight to Mexico City.
It  crashed in the municipality of Santa Maria Coronango, which is about  3.5 miles (5.5 kilometers) north of the city's main airport on the  western outskirts, federal Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo told  a news conference.
Images of the crash showed a shattered, still smoldering aircraft on the edge of a scorched patch of cornfield.
Both  federal and state officials said they had opened investigations into  the cause — a potentially sensitive case because President Andres Manuel  Lopez Obrador's Morena party had challenged the validity of Alonso's  election in July. She was sworn in 10 days ago after independent  electoral authorities dismissed the challenge.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-aviati...000745386.html

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## Swordsmyth

> A  husband-and-wife political power couple who were the current and  ex-governors of the central Mexican state of Puebla died in a Christmas  Eve helicopter crash, officials announced.Mexico's  political class was stunned by the deaths of Gov. Martha Erika Alonso  and ex-Gov. Rafael Moreno Valle, a prominent figure in the opposition  National Action Party who had vied unsuccessfully for the party's  presidential nomination and its internal leadership. He was currently a  federal senator for the party.
> Two pilots and a third passenger also died.
> The  Agusta 109 helicopter fell about 10 minutes after taking off from a  heliport within the city of Puebla on a flight to Mexico City.
> It  crashed in the municipality of Santa Maria Coronango, which is about  3.5 miles (5.5 kilometers) north of the city's main airport on the  western outskirts, federal Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo told  a news conference.
> Images of the crash showed a shattered, still smoldering aircraft on the edge of a scorched patch of cornfield.
> Both  federal and state officials said they had opened investigations into  the cause — a potentially sensitive case because President Andres Manuel  Lopez Obrador's Morena party had challenged the validity of Alonso's  election in July. She was sworn in 10 days ago after independent  electoral authorities dismissed the challenge.
> 
> More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-aviati...000745386.html


Mexico  has invited experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board  to investigate a helicopter crash that killed the governor of the  western state of Puebla and her husband.Mexico's  assistant transportation secretary says the invitation was made "to  leave no doubts" about the Monday crash that killed opposition Gov.  Martha Erika Alonso and her husband, ex-Gov. Rafael Moreno Valle.
Carlos  Moran said Tuesday that the manufacturers of the helicopter and its  engines will participate in the investigation, and it was too early to  determine whether mechanical problems played a role.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-invite...204853070.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s military have taken control over  58 key fuel installations in the country, including refineries, upon  orders by new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has vowed to  fight corruption and fuel theft within and outside state-run energy  company Pemex.  
Lopez Obrador unveiled a plan  on Thursday to increase the presence of military and the use of the  army in fighting rampant fuel theft that has been costing Mexico’s state  firm Pemex billions of dollars annually.
According to Pemex’s own estimates, the losses from fuel theft over the past three years have reached US$7.5 billion (147 billion Mexican pesos).
According to Lopez Obrador, authorities are also involved in widespread fuel theft.
“This  is the theft of national assets, of public funds, of money that belongs  to all Mexicans,” Reuters quoted Lopez Obrador as saying at a regular  news conference on Thursday.
On Friday, the Mexican army took  control of refineries of Pemex across the country, where unionized  workers were blocking the access to some of the sites, UPI reports,  citing the Excelsior newspaper.

Mexican media report  that three officials at Pemex, suspected of having facilitated fuel  theft, had already been arrested for the alleged crimes. The three Pemex  officials have been sacked and will be facing criminal charges,  Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero said at Lopez Obrador’s  news conference on Thursday.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...uel-Theft.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/m...-sworn-n953601

Gov. Alejandro Murat confirmed the killing of Tlaxiaco Mayor Alejandro Aparicio Santiago via his Twitter account Tuesday. He promised a thorough investigation and said a suspect was already in custody.

The state prosecutor's office said in a statement that *Aparicio had just been sworn in and was headed to a meeting at city hall when an unknown number of gunmen opened fire at him. He was taken to a hospital, but died there later.*

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's new president has outlined big plans to fight corruption in his country's energy sector,  but for now, the situation appears to be getting worse. In recent days,  more than 1,000 stations in the states of Colima, Guanajuato, Hidalgo,  Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit and Queretaro have experienced fuel  shortages. According to reports in the Mexican news media, some of the  shortages followed missed shipments from the Salamanca refinery, about  260 kilometers (162 miles) northwest of Mexico City in Guanajuato state.  A separate statement from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador,  however, blamed the shortages on unspecified distribution problems.  Still other reports blamed the problem on fuel theft from pipelines that supply the affected states.
While  the reports conflict, and the precise cause of the shortages is  unknown, one possible contributor was the government's decision to  deploy troops to the Salamanca refinery on Dec. 27 as part of an effort  to curb fuel theft abetted by employees at the state-owned oil and  natural gas company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). Audits and  investigations at the refinery may have slowed production, exacerbating  the problem posed by continuing fuel thefts at other locations. Whatever  the cause, around 75 percent of the affected stations appear to have  begun receiving shipments again.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...rruption-fight

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican drivers in several states are struggling to fill their tanks  as the new government fights massive fuel theft by seeking to move more  gasoline by tanker trucks instead of pipelines, Reuters reports,  citing a local source who said a number of fuel stations in Guadalajara  remained closed yesterday for lack of fuel and those that were open had  long lines of drivers waiting for a fill-up.
Mexico’s military took control over 58  key fuel installations in the country in late December, including  refineries, upon orders by new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador,  who has vowed to fight corruption and fuel theft within and outside  state-run energy company Pemex.  

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...In-Mexico.html

----------


## pcosmar

State run energy is a Bad Idea..

But then so was Chemical Warfare.  (Paraquat)

----------


## Swordsmyth

From targeting operations at a single refinery,  Mexico's government has since expanded its offensive against the  deep-seated problem of fuel theft in the country by sending troops to  scrutinize fuel refining and transport operations nationwide. Soldiers  were deployed to every refinery in Mexico by Jan. 7, raising the  likelihood of more widespread fuel shortages as a result of disruptions  caused by the greater scrutiny. Shortages in central Mexican states due  to operations against the thefts continued, with customers at fuel  stations in Guadalajara, Morelia and other major central Mexican cities  experiencing long lines amid reported price gouging.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...es-prices-amlo

----------


## Swordsmyth

The gasoline shortages sparked by the Mexican government’s offensive against fuel theft have now spread to the capital, Sputnik reports,  citing a local correspondent who said there were queues at many fuel  stations in Mexico City. Oilprice.com reporters confirm that various gas  stations in the southern part of the Mexican capital remain closed on  Wednesday morning, while small traffic jams were occurring around the  ones that are in business.
The state oil company, Pemex, rejected  reports of shortages in the capital and urged the population to refrain  from panic buying of gasoline and spreading rumors of shortages.


Now, Pemex says it had reached an agreement with the governors of the  states where there have been shortages to resume deliveries, Sputnik  reports, adding the state company had also said it had blocked a number  of underground pipelines to prevent theft. A survey from 2017 revealed  fuel thieves had tapped into pipelines every 1.4 km on average. Pemex’s  pipeline network totals 14,000 km.
The Associated Press reports  panic is spreading despite Pemex’s pleadings for calm, with the  offensive also feeding government critics who say some policies of the  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador cabinet’s policies hark back to a worse  past. Yet fuel theft is a serious problem: losses from it jumped from  US$500,000 a year in the late 2000s to US$3 billion in 2018, the AP  notes.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...xico-City.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

Witness in the trial of El Chapo states former Mexican President Pena Nieto received 100 million dollar bribe.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/n...apo-trial.html

_Mr. Guzmáns testimony would be a stunning development. While his lieutenants have shared details about the Sinaloa cartels operations, the kingpin himself could offer even more intimate information, such as how he possibly bribed a president of Mexico.

According to Mr. Cifuentes, Mr. Peña Nieto first reached out to Mr. Guzmán about the time he was elected president in late 2012, asking the drug lord for $250 million in exchange for calling off a nationwide manhunt for him.

But Mr. Guzmán made a counteroffer, Mr. Cifuentes added, saying he would give Mr. Peña Nieto only $100 million._

----------


## Swordsmyth

A  huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on  Friday, killing at least 20 people and badly burning 71 others as locals  were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans,  officials said.The  leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into  the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles  (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City, according to state oil company  Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
Video  footage showed dozens of residents near the town of Tlahuelilpan  gathered to collect spilled fuel in buckets, garbage cans and other  vessels. It appeared an almost festive atmosphere as whole families  gathered in a field as a geyser of fuel spouted dozens of feet into the  air from the tap.
Footage then showed flames shooting high into the air against a night sky and the pipeline ablaze. Screams could be heard.
Hidalgo  Gov. Omar Fayad said 20 people were killed immediately and 71 suffered  burns in the blast at the duct that carries fuel —apparently gasoline —  from the Gulf coast to Tula, a city just north of Mexico City.
"Caring for the wounded is our top priority," Fayad said.
Pemex attributed the blaze to "the manipulation of an illegal tap."
President  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared an offensive against fuel  theft and the blast will further focus attention on the $3 billion  per-year illegal industry.
"I  greatly lament the grave situation Tlahuelilpan is suffering because of  the explosion of the duct," Lopez Obrador tweeted. He called on all  branches of government to assist the victims.
Hidalgo state police said the leak was first reported at about 5:00 p.m. local time.
"There  was a report that residents were on the scene trying to obtain fuel,"  according to a police report. Two hours later, the pipeline burst into  flames.
And  another pipeline burst into flames in the neighboring state of  Queretaro, because of another illegal tap. Pemex said the fire near the  city of San Juan del Rio "is in an unpopulated area and there is no risk  to human beings."
It is not the first time such an accidents have occurred.


Lopez  Obrador launched an offensive against fuel theft after taking office  Dec. 1. Thieves drilled about 12,581 illegal taps in the first 10 months  of 2018 and the country has deployed 3,200 marines to guard pipelines  and refineries.
The  new administration has also shut down pipelines to detect and deter  illegal taps, relying more on delivering fuel by tanker truck. But there  aren't enough trucks, and long lines at gas stations have plagued  several states.
However,  fuel theft gangs have been able to win the loyalty of whole  neighborhoods, using free gas and getting local residents to act as  lookouts and confront military patrols carrying out raids against the  thefts.
It  is unclear whether Friday's tragedy would turn the tide of opinion  against the gangs in the impoverished villages that lie above the  underground pipelines.
"I  am calling on the entire population not to be accomplices to fuel  theft," Fayad wrote. "What happened today in Tlahuelilpan must never  happen again."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/many-burned-f...023118036.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

Wait...Mexico is gonna go Brazilian and put the death squads on patrol. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZXc39hT8t4

----------


## Swordsmyth

> A  huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on  Friday, killing at least 20 people and badly burning 71 others as locals  were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans,  officials said.The  leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into  the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles  (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City, according to state oil company  Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
> Video  footage showed dozens of residents near the town of Tlahuelilpan  gathered to collect spilled fuel in buckets, garbage cans and other  vessels. It appeared an almost festive atmosphere as whole families  gathered in a field as a geyser of fuel spouted dozens of feet into the  air from the tap.
> Footage then showed flames shooting high into the air against a night sky and the pipeline ablaze. Screams could be heard.
> Hidalgo  Gov. Omar Fayad said 20 people were killed immediately and 71 suffered  burns in the blast at the duct that carries fuel —apparently gasoline —  from the Gulf coast to Tula, a city just north of Mexico City.
> "Caring for the wounded is our top priority," Fayad said.
> Pemex attributed the blaze to "the manipulation of an illegal tap."
> President  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared an offensive against fuel  theft and the blast will further focus attention on the $3 billion  per-year illegal industry.
> "I  greatly lament the grave situation Tlahuelilpan is suffering because of  the explosion of the duct," Lopez Obrador tweeted. He called on all  branches of government to assist the victims.
> Hidalgo state police said the leak was first reported at about 5:00 p.m. local time.
> ...


At  least 66 people were killed after a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel  thieves exploded in central Mexico, authorities said on Saturday, as  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador defended the army despite its  failure to clear the site before the blast.Forensic  experts filled body bags with charred human remains in the field where  the fiery blast occurred Friday evening by the town of Tlahuelilpan in  the state of Hidalgo, in one of the deadliest incidents to hit Mexico's  troubled oil infrastructure in years.
Soldiers  and other military personnel guarded the cordoned-off area that was  littered with half-burned shoes, clothes and containers that were being  used by people to collect fuel.
Grief-stricken  family members blocked the dirt access road to the field, saying they  would not let funeral service vehicles pass until they were told where  the dead were being taken.
"They  should give us an answer, if not, we're not moving," said Maria Isabel  Garcia, 49, who was looking for two nieces. "They'll have to drive the  goddamn cars over us."
The group eventually let the vehicles through.
At  a news conference with Lopez Obrador, Hidalgo State Governor Omar Fayad  said 66 people were killed and 76 people injured in the explosion,  which happened as local residents scrambled to fill buckets and drums  from a gush of fuel from the pipeline that authorities said rose up to  23 feet (7 meters) high.


More at: https://news.yahoo.com/ruptured-pipe...022215363.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Source:   World Socialist Web Site

So keep plenty of salt grains handy



_Over 70,000 “maquiladora” workers from 45 factories in the   US-Mexico border town of Matamoros, Mexico have entered the sixth day of   their courageous struggle as more and more plants are paralyzed   throughout the city._
 Last night, thousands of workers marched through the city from  factory  to factory chanting “unity, unity,” “walk out! walk out!,” “the   workers united will never be defeated” and “strike!” Workers stopped at   each plant and appealed to workers changing shift to join their strike,   greeting each new walkout with a loud round of cheers. The crowd grew   throughout the night.
 There is a sense in the ruling class that the strike may be getting   out of control. Amid a complete media blackout, the hated trade unions   are doing everything in their power to restrict the movement to “legal”   union-led negotiations and to keep stoppages from spreading to more   manufacturing complexes across the border area and internationally.
 The strike at Matamoros has been completely ignored by the corporate   media. There is not a single article about the Matamoros strike in any   of the major Mexican or international news outlets. While devoting   front-page news to anti-democratic maneuvers by the Democratic Party,   the US-based _New York Times_ and _Washington Post_, and Mexican newspapers such as _El Universal_ and _Reforma_, have nothing to say about the largest strike on the North American continent in recent years.

The strike could very soon disrupt global supply chains in the United  States, Canada and Asia. Industry experts estimate that the strike has  already cost the maquiladora industry $20 million, or $23,000 per  minute. The strike is affecting major suppliers to the “Big Three”  automakers—GM, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler—as well as other manufacturers.  Factories that are on strike include Autoliv, Inteva, Starkey, Edemsa,  Aipsa, Cepillos, STC, Polytech, Kemet, Tyco, Parker and AFX.
 The workers are sharing information through Facebook, with several  pages sprouting up for workers to coordinate actions between plants and  to defend workers against victimization by the unions and the companies.
 There is no innocent explanation for the lack of coverage. The ruling  class is terrified that the strikes will extend to other cities and  link up the demands of workers everywhere for social equality. An  editorial published yesterday by the state capital’s newspaper, _El Diario de Ciudad Victoria,_  warns of similar unrest spreading to the 120 factories in the border  town of Reynosa or to Ciudad Victoria, where over 6,000 auto parts  workers at Kemet and APTIV are demanding a 30 percent raise in their  current contract negotiations.


The decision to censor stories about Matamoros is aimed at keeping  workers in the dark about developments that could be the turning point  in the decision by millions of people around the world to take matters  into their own hands by organizing actions outside of the trade unions,  just as the Matamoros workers have already bravely demonstrated.
 Despite the offer of small bonuses to draw them back to their posts,  the maquiladora workers have refused to give in and continue to call for  a 20 percent wage increase and a 32,000 peso bonus ($1,700), as well as  a reduction in their union dues from four percent to one percent and a  return to the 40 hour work week. There is a growing call for a 100  percent raise to mirror the raise that other workers across the  US-Mexico border received at the beginning of the year.
 Companies have thuggishly threatened workers with plant closures if  the strike continues. An Autoliv auto parts worker told the WSWS that  companies have blocked their payment cards for bonuses and other  allowances and have withheld workers’ salaries for the first week of the  month, even though workers were not on strike at that time.
 Recognizing that workers everywhere face the same conditions and need  to link up their struggles, autoworkers in the US and Canada have sent  statements of support to the striking Matamoros workers and urged them to continue their strike.
 The Matamoros workers have now rebelled against a second union, the  Union of Workers in Maquiladora and Assembly plants (SIPTME). Yesterday,  hundreds of workers from Tridonex, an auto parts manufacturer, gathered  at SIPTME offices to demand that their plants join the workers who are  currently on strike. Rather than face their own membership, union  bureaucrats closed down their offices ahead of the arrival of the  protesters, citing “security concerns.” A mid-level official eventually  emerged and summarily rejected any joint action with the workers  affiliated with the Union of Laborers and Industrial Workers of the  Maquiladora Industry (SJOIIM).
 The SJOIIM is widely hated for taking four percent of workers’  salaries every week while acting as nothing more than a cheap labor  contractor. It’s leader, Juan Villafuerte Morales, is working day and  night to sabotage the strike and bring it back under the suffocating  control of the union. “Negotiations between workers and the companies  will continue for another 10 days and it would help very much if workers  returned to their posts,” said Villafuerte on Thursday.
 Other forces are also seeking to limit the workers to negotiations  between the companies and the SJOIIM. Labor lawyer Susana Prieto  Terrazas traveled from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua to give legal guidance  to the striking workers. She met with Villafuerte yesterday to obtain  the collective bargaining agreements from the union office, which have  previously not been shared with the membership. At a mass rally  yesterday, she told the crowd: “Fellow workers, you have to pressure,  for starters your union. You cannot get rid of Villafuerte for now. You  have to pressure until they give in, Villafuerte and the companies.”



Despite Prieto’s support for a strike by legal means, workers must be  warned: If they allow their struggle to be bought under the influence  of the unions and the Movement for National Regeneration (Morena), they  will be isolated and defeated. Prieto’s proposal that workers seek to  pressure the union will restrict the true source of its power: their  independent, unified action _outside of_ and _against_ the  union-corporate alliance. Instead of turning to the union, they must  turn to their working class brothers and sisters at other plants in  other cities and other industries. This is the ticket to victory.
 The formation of rank-and-file committees to take the struggle out of  the hands of the union is the immediate order of the day. To be able to  stand up to the intimidation of the companies, workers need to rely on  the strength of the entire working class. They are receiving widespread  support from workers in the US and Canada, who are enthusiastically  watching their struggle with great interest.
 We urge workers who want to link up with their class brothers and sisters across North America to contact us by email at autoworkers@wsws.org or on our Facebook page.
_On February 9, at 2 p.m. autoworkers will demonstrate at GM world  headquarters in Detroit, Michigan to oppose the job cuts and  concessions announced by the auto and parts companies. Workers from  across the world can follow and support this demonstration on Facebook_ *here*.
 *


https://www.globalresearch.ca/amid-m...th-day/5665899

----------


## Swordsmyth

> A  huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on  Friday, killing at least 20 people and badly burning 71 others as locals  were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans,  officials said.The  leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into  the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles  (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City, according to state oil company  Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
> Video  footage showed dozens of residents near the town of Tlahuelilpan  gathered to collect spilled fuel in buckets, garbage cans and other  vessels. It appeared an almost festive atmosphere as whole families  gathered in a field as a geyser of fuel spouted dozens of feet into the  air from the tap.
> Footage then showed flames shooting high into the air against a night sky and the pipeline ablaze. Screams could be heard.
> Hidalgo  Gov. Omar Fayad said 20 people were killed immediately and 71 suffered  burns in the blast at the duct that carries fuel —apparently gasoline —  from the Gulf coast to Tula, a city just north of Mexico City.
> "Caring for the wounded is our top priority," Fayad said.
> Pemex attributed the blaze to "the manipulation of an illegal tap."
> President  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared an offensive against fuel  theft and the blast will further focus attention on the $3 billion  per-year illegal industry.
> "I  greatly lament the grave situation Tlahuelilpan is suffering because of  the explosion of the duct," Lopez Obrador tweeted. He called on all  branches of government to assist the victims.
> Hidalgo state police said the leak was first reported at about 5:00 p.m. local time.
> ...





> At  least 66 people were killed after a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel  thieves exploded in central Mexico, authorities said on Saturday, as  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador defended the army despite its  failure to clear the site before the blast.Forensic  experts filled body bags with charred human remains in the field where  the fiery blast occurred Friday evening by the town of Tlahuelilpan in  the state of Hidalgo, in one of the deadliest incidents to hit Mexico's  troubled oil infrastructure in years.
> Soldiers  and other military personnel guarded the cordoned-off area that was  littered with half-burned shoes, clothes and containers that were being  used by people to collect fuel.
> Grief-stricken  family members blocked the dirt access road to the field, saying they  would not let funeral service vehicles pass until they were told where  the dead were being taken.
> "They  should give us an answer, if not, we're not moving," said Maria Isabel  Garcia, 49, who was looking for two nieces. "They'll have to drive the  goddamn cars over us."
> The group eventually let the vehicles through.
> At  a news conference with Lopez Obrador, Hidalgo State Governor Omar Fayad  said 66 people were killed and 76 people injured in the explosion,  which happened as local residents scrambled to fill buckets and drums  from a gush of fuel from the pipeline that authorities said rose up to  23 feet (7 meters) high.
> 
> 
> More at: https://news.yahoo.com/ruptured-pipe...022215363.html


The  death toll from a fiery explosion in central Mexico rose to 85 on  Sunday as authorities vowed to hold accountable those responsible for a  deliberate fuel-line puncture that drew hundreds of people looking to  gather gasoline before it ignited.The  search for human remains at the site of the explosion in the state of  Hidalgo ended late Saturday. While families began to bury the dead,  officials indicated the death toll could still rise.
Health  Minister Jorge Alcocer said 85 deaths were confirmed and that another  58 people were hospitalized in Hidalgo, while others in worse conditions  had been moved to Mexico City for specialized treatment.
Family  members of the victims have called on the government to continue  looking for remains and to bring back forensic experts for that purpose.
Funerals  already have begun, but the handover of remains has been slow because  many of the victims were burned beyond recognition.
The Hidalgo state prosecutor said 54 of the dead could not be readily identified, and require DNA analysis.


On  Friday, when authorities heard that fuel traffickers had punctured the  pipeline, about 25 soldiers arrived and attempted to block off the area,  Defense Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval told reporters.
But  the soldiers were unable to contain the estimated 700 civilians --  including entire families -- who swarmed in to collect the spilled  gasoline, witnesses said.
The  armed soldiers had been moved away from the pipeline to avoid any risk  of confrontation with the crowd when the blast occurred, about two hours  after the pipeline was first breached, Sandoval said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-me...180820123.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

> A  huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on  Friday, killing at least 20 people and badly burning 71 others as locals  were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans,  officials said.The  leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into  the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles  (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City, according to state oil company  Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
> Video  footage showed dozens of residents near the town of Tlahuelilpan  gathered to collect spilled fuel in buckets, garbage cans and other  vessels. It appeared an almost festive atmosphere as whole families  gathered in a field as a geyser of fuel spouted dozens of feet into the  air from the tap.
> Footage then showed flames shooting high into the air against a night sky and the pipeline ablaze. Screams could be heard.
> Hidalgo  Gov. Omar Fayad said 20 people were killed immediately and 71 suffered  burns in the blast at the duct that carries fuel —apparently gasoline —  from the Gulf coast to Tula, a city just north of Mexico City.
> "Caring for the wounded is our top priority," Fayad said.
> Pemex attributed the blaze to "the manipulation of an illegal tap."
> President  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared an offensive against fuel  theft and the blast will further focus attention on the $3 billion  per-year illegal industry.
> "I  greatly lament the grave situation Tlahuelilpan is suffering because of  the explosion of the duct," Lopez Obrador tweeted. He called on all  branches of government to assist the victims.
> Hidalgo state police said the leak was first reported at about 5:00 p.m. local time.
> ...





> At  least 66 people were killed after a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel  thieves exploded in central Mexico, authorities said on Saturday, as  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador defended the army despite its  failure to clear the site before the blast.Forensic  experts filled body bags with charred human remains in the field where  the fiery blast occurred Friday evening by the town of Tlahuelilpan in  the state of Hidalgo, in one of the deadliest incidents to hit Mexico's  troubled oil infrastructure in years.
> Soldiers  and other military personnel guarded the cordoned-off area that was  littered with half-burned shoes, clothes and containers that were being  used by people to collect fuel.
> Grief-stricken  family members blocked the dirt access road to the field, saying they  would not let funeral service vehicles pass until they were told where  the dead were being taken.
> "They  should give us an answer, if not, we're not moving," said Maria Isabel  Garcia, 49, who was looking for two nieces. "They'll have to drive the  goddamn cars over us."
> The group eventually let the vehicles through.
> At  a news conference with Lopez Obrador, Hidalgo State Governor Omar Fayad  said 66 people were killed and 76 people injured in the explosion,  which happened as local residents scrambled to fill buckets and drums  from a gush of fuel from the pipeline that authorities said rose up to  23 feet (7 meters) high.
> 
> 
> More at: https://news.yahoo.com/ruptured-pipe...022215363.html





> The  death toll from a fiery explosion in central Mexico rose to 85 on  Sunday as authorities vowed to hold accountable those responsible for a  deliberate fuel-line puncture that drew hundreds of people looking to  gather gasoline before it ignited.The  search for human remains at the site of the explosion in the state of  Hidalgo ended late Saturday. While families began to bury the dead,  officials indicated the death toll could still rise.
> Health  Minister Jorge Alcocer said 85 deaths were confirmed and that another  58 people were hospitalized in Hidalgo, while others in worse conditions  had been moved to Mexico City for specialized treatment.
> Family  members of the victims have called on the government to continue  looking for remains and to bring back forensic experts for that purpose.
> Funerals  already have begun, but the handover of remains has been slow because  many of the victims were burned beyond recognition.
> The Hidalgo state prosecutor said 54 of the dead could not be readily identified, and require DNA analysis.
> 
> 
> On  Friday, when authorities heard that fuel traffickers had punctured the  pipeline, about 25 soldiers arrived and attempted to block off the area,  Defense Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval told reporters.
> But  the soldiers were unable to contain the estimated 700 civilians --  including entire families -- who swarmed in to collect the spilled  gasoline, witnesses said.
> ...


Mexico  has opened an investigation into what caused a deadly pipeline  explosion, including possible negligence by authorities, the attorney  general said Monday, as the death toll rose to 91 people.It  is still unclear exactly how events unfolded leading up to the Friday  blast, which occurred as hundreds of people rushed to collect fuel in  buckets and jerrycans from a geyser of gasoline that was spouting from  an illegal pipeline tap near the town of Tlahuelilpan, in the central  state of Hidalgo.
The  death toll from the blast and ensuing fire has now risen to 91 people,  after two more victims died in hospital, Governor Omar Fayad told  Mexican radio network Formula.
"Unfortunately, we have 52 wounded, the vast majority of whom are in very serious condition, with a very bad outlook," he said.
Attorney  General Alejandro Gertz said investigators were trying to determine who  tapped the pipeline -- whether locals acting alone or one of the  criminal gangs that have turned fuel theft into a booming industry in  Mexico.
Possible  negligence by the authorities responsible for the pipeline is also "a  fundamental issue" in the investigation, Gertz told a press conference.
"The  timeline of events has to be made absolutely clear and precise. To do  that, we're going to talk to each and every authority who intervened,"  he said.
The  interrogation will include officials from the defense ministry, the  police, state oil company Pemex and the Hidalgo state government and  prosecutor's office.
Video  taken before the explosion shows how some 700 people gathered at the  pipeline as it sent a jet of gasoline into the air, while army soldiers  stood by, apparently doing little to intervene.
The  almost festive scene turned into a horror show after the explosion, as  screaming victims in flaming clothes fled the enormous fire, some with  severe burns.
Nearly  four hours elapsed between the moment the leak was detected and the  moment the pipeline was turned off, according to the government.
Gertz  said investigators were also examining whether the recent murders of  three ringleaders of Hidalgo fuel-theft gangs could have been a factor.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-probes...225243715.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.newsweek.com/public-sex-...morfin-1083090

Lawmakers in Guadalajara, Mexico passed legislation that now legalizes public sex acts as long as there's no third-party complaints filed with police.

----------


## Swordsmyth

*A cartel that prioritizes fuel theft over drug trafficking used  plastic explosives to threaten Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez  Obrador (AMLO). Gunmen left the devices outside an oil refinery in the  central state of Guanajuato.* Mexico’s federal government confirmed the discovery of a banner and  truck with the explosives near one of the entrances to the Ingeniero  Antonio M. Amor Refinery in Salamanca. The devices were inside an older  model red pickup and placed near two narco-banners. Military experts  disabled the hardware.


The banners were signed by Jose Antonio “El Marro” Yepez Ortiz, the  leader of Cartel Santa Rosa de Lima. The organization is waging a fierce  territorial war with one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal groups,  Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).

The banner left by El Marro was addressed to AMLO. The cartel leader  demanded the president pull military and federal police forces out of  Guanajuato or he would begin targeting innocent people. El Marro claims  he left the explosives, calling them “a little gift” as a sign of things  to come if AMLO failed to comply. He added that he wanted some of his  associates released from custody.

Soon after the discovery, various social media messages allegedly  from Cartel Santa Rosa de Lima claimed they were not involved in any  way.
 A security expert in Mexico revealed to Breitbart News that Mexican  Marines recently seized 12 tractor trailers, tankers and 23 other trucks  belonging to El Marro’s organization. The move could have led to a  violent response by Cartel Santa Rosa Lima, or it could have been used  by CJNG to place the banners and draw heat on their rivals.

More at: https://www.breitbart.com/border/201...ic-explosives/

----------


## Swordsmyth

Members of the Mexican dissident oil workers' union Gran Alianza  Nacional Petrolera have presented a criminal complaint against Sen.  Carlos Romero Deschamps, head of the main oil workers' union of  Petroleos Mexicanos, better known as Pemex, Polemon reported Feb. 3. The  workers claim that Romero Deschamps is involved in fuel theft from the  company.

The government of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has  prioritized the prosecution of Romero Deschamps, who has been accused of  corruption for more than two decades. Romero Deschamps is a prominent  figure of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party and a rival of  Lopez Obrador's National Regeneration Movement.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...plaint-against

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican Energy Minister Rocio Nahle has said private gasoline importers  will not receive any new permits, La Politica Online reported Feb. 6.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-minister-says

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is planning to hold a  referendum on Feb. 23-24 on the construction of a $628 million power  plant in Morelos state, Natural Gas Intel reported Feb. 8. Although  construction on the plant is complete, it has not yet started  operations. The referendum will only include residents of 32 towns along  a 171-kilometer (106-mile) pipeline supplying the plant.

Holding the referendum would significantly erode investor confidence in  Mexico as the plant has already attracted considerable funding and  halting the project would be a sign of increasing regulatory risk  despite previous assurances.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...on-power-plant

----------


## Pauls' Revere

“There’s nothing neutral about Mexico’s position because in practice it validates Maduro’s re-election,” Rozental said in an interview.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...zuela-election

----------


## Swordsmyth

Last week a hefty package of $3.5 billion worth of tax cuts were  granted to the struggling state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex)  to be spread over the next six years. Now, on Tuesday morning, Mexico’s  new leftist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had to pledge _even more_  aid to the cash-strapped company. The exact amount has not yet been  specified, but it probably will be significant if Pemex’s ever-worsening  needs are to be met.
Pemex is not entirely to blame, however, for  its growing predicament. For years the Mexican government has used  Pemex’s pockets as a personal piggy bank, without ever fully repaying  what was taken out of the coffers. Now, as Lopez Obrador pumps more  money into Pemex, the company’s bonds have subsequently seen major gains  as its credit rating was slashed to a dismal figure.
The money  given by the recent tax cuts doesn’t compare, however to the vast  amounts of cash that the government has been skimming off of Pemex for  years. The state-owned oil company has all but buckled under the  financial burden of supporting its own operational costs as well as a  huge portion of public spending, and therefore hasn’t enjoyed a positive  free cash flow in over a decade--since 2007. Through all the highs and  lows of oil prices over the last decade, Pemex has been steadily  bleeding cash regardless of whether its product was at $100 a barrel or  $30.
The hydra of Mexico’s cash flow woes has many heads. The  issue has been created and compounded by sweeping corruption,  skyrocketing debt, and plummeting rates of production--not to mention fuel theft, piracy, and pipeline explosions. Let’s start with the debt. Pemex is the most indebted oil company _in the world_.  At its worst, Pemex’s net debt skyrocketed from where it was in 2007 at  a respectable .5 times Ebitda (on earnings before interest, taxes,  depreciation, and amortization) to a whopping 7 times Ebitda ten years  later, by the end of 2017. Now they’ve managed to reign those figures in  a bit to 5 times Ebitda--a dismal figure at best. 

Dovetailing with the nation’s ballooning debt, oil production has  also slowed to just a trickle of its former levels in Mexico. Ten years  ago, Pemex consistently produced more than 4 million barrels of oil  equivalent per day. Now, that number has nearly been cut in half, to  around 3.5 million barrels per day from September 2017 through September  2018. Pemex went from producing volumes comparable with supermajors  like Exxon Mobil Corp. to falling off the map as an oil major.
All  this is to say that Pemex is no longer attractive to investors. That  being said, national oil companies don’t exist to serve investors alone.  The interests of the Mexican government also come heavily into play.  And therein lies the problem. The government’s burden on its oil company  has grown steadily heavier until the company is no longer able to  operate as just that--a company.

While Lopez Obrador throws money at Pemex to try to dig the company  out of its hole, he’s also contributing to the long legacy of short-term  thinking that got Pemex into this position in the first place. The new  president’s lofty goals for reviving the Mexican oil and gas industry go  against balancing the company’s books.
What’s more, while Lopez  Obrador aggressively invests in Pemex, he’s pulling away from other  important energy reforms that would bring in new money and share  development costs, as well as auctions that would allow private  interests to explore for oil in Mexico.
Mexico has an opportunity  to cash in on ramped up oil demand brought on by U.S. sanctions on  Venezuela among other market factors, but the company simply can’t  produce enough oil to get into the game. Right now, Pemex is not even  producing enough light oil to fill its own refineries, and its once  massive proven reserves have been sucked dry. The nation’s current  proven reserves are just a fourth of what they were 20 years ago.
Mexico  is in trouble, and just throwing money at the problem is not going to  stop Pemex from sinking. Instead of short-term solutions and tax cuts,  the system needs a major overhaul. But with a decade of negative cash  flow, it’s hard to see how Pemex will be able to find the resources to  make it happen.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...Is-Doomed.html

 @angelatc when Mexico is the next Venezuela expect the usual suspects to tell us that it is all America's fault.

----------


## angelatc

> All this is to say that Pemex is no longer attractive to investors. That being said, national oil companies don’t exist to serve investors alone. The interests of the Mexican government also come heavily into play. And therein lies the problem. The government’s burden on its oil company has grown steadily heavier until the company is no longer able to operate as just that--a company.


And obviously it will the CIA's fault when they can't find financing.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will take up several  measures likely designed to grant the federal government more influence  over the country's downstream oil and gas policy in general and its  electricity policy in particular, Reuters reported Feb. 11. Most  notably, Lopez Obrador will nominate four new commissioners to the  Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) and said the government would move to  review and possibly change the terms for contracts between the Federal  Electricity Commission and private companies.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-energy-policy

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico will support Pemex by injecting US$3.6 billion into the debt-laden state-held oil firm, including by refinancing debt and cutting taxes, Mexican officials said on Friday.
The  Mexican government, however, will not take on new debt for Pemex,  Reuters quoted officials as saying at a regular press conference.
The Mexican state oil firm has a total of US$106 billion in financial debt.
If Pemex needs more capital injection, the government will provide it, according to Finance Minister Carlos Urzua.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-With-36B.html

----------


## angelatc

> Mexico will support Pemex by injecting US$3.6 billion into the debt-laden state-held oil firm, including by refinancing debt and cutting taxes, Mexican officials said on Friday.
> The  Mexican government, however, will not take on new debt for Pemex,  Reuters quoted officials as saying at a regular press conference.
> The Mexican state oil firm has a total of US$106 billion in financial debt.
> If Pemex needs more capital injection, the government will provide it, according to Finance Minister Carlos Urzua.
> 
> More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-With-36B.html


Wait - so they won't take on new debt, they'll just give out cash?  How long before they seize the oil company do you think?

----------


## Swordsmyth

> Wait - so they won't take on new debt, they'll just give out cash?  How long before they seize the oil company do you think?


5 years at the outside I would guess.

Mexico will be the next Venezuela and and we can look forward to being told by all the anarcho-communists and leftarians that AMLO did nothing wrong and that it is all America's fault.

----------


## Stratovarious

> 5 years at the outside I would guess.
> 
> Mexico will be the next Venezuela and and we can look forward to being told by all the anarcho-communists and leftarians that AMLO did nothing wrong and that it is all America's fault.


I missed this whole episode, have not heard nor read anything about Mexico's Nationalization of 
the oil industry, is this what has transpired, did they oust the developers in similar fashion to 
Venezuela ?

If so , this is not going to go well, we will need a 'bigger wall' .

----------


## Swordsmyth

> I missed this whole episode, have not heard nor read anything about Mexico's Nationalization of 
> the oil industry, is this what has transpired, did they oust the developers in similar fashion to 
> Venezuela ?
> 
> If so , this is not going to go well, we will need a 'bigger wall' .


It hasn't happened yet but AMLO is making all of the moves and noises that will lead to it soon enough, this thread has most of it but if you want more you can search for the older threads about Obrador when he was running for office.

We are going to need a fully militarized border if Mexico goes all the way.

----------


## PAF

> It hasn't happened yet but AMLO is making all of the moves and noises that will lead to it soon enough, this thread has most of it but if you want more you can search for the older threads about Obrador when he was running for office.
> 
> We are going to need a fully militarized border if Mexico goes all the way.



^ This ^ on the RonPaulForums.

SwordShill, just when I think you can’t come up with anything more imbecile... you never cease to amaze me.

----------


## Stratovarious

> It hasn't happened yet but AMLO is making all of the moves and noises that will lead to it soon enough, this thread has most of it but if you want more you can search for the older threads about Obrador when he was running for office.
> 
> We are going to need a fully militarized border if Mexico goes all the way.


Indeed , forget the Sanctuary Cities and free welfare, they'll be coming for the toilet paper.

----------


## Stratovarious

> ^ This ^ on the RonPaulForums.
> 
> SwordShill, just when I think you can’t come up with anything more imbecile... you never cease to amaze me.


I'm guessing he may have injected a little bit of hyperbole in that statement. 
let me ask you , what do you do here, I honestly don't know yet........

----------


## Swordsmyth

> ^ This ^ on the RonPaulForums.
> 
> SwordShill, just when I think you can’t come up with anything more imbecile... you never cease to amaze me.




Move to Venezuela and fight for Maduro and then tell us how wonderful it is down there.

We will keep the communists out of America with GOD's help and well protected border.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> I'm guessing he may have injected a little bit of hyperbole in that statement.


A little perhaps but Mexico is already a hostile country that works to destroy us and it will only get worse if they go full commie.



> let me ask you , what do you do here, I honestly don't know yet........


Mostly he argues for anarchy and open borders so that communists can come here in the millions and impose communism on us.

It would be tyrannical of us to stop them.

----------


## PAF

> I'm guessing he may have injected a little bit of hyperbole in that statement. 
> let me ask you , what do you do here, I honestly don't know yet........


What I want done goes unheard, unless we get a groundswell. Stop meddling in others affairs. Stop threatening/promoting/assisting forced unionization, which folks and business owners I know down in Mexico do not want. Begin trading freely and setting the example for others to follow. Things may take time but failure to do so will certainly ensure our own demise.

----------


## PAF

> A little perhaps but Mexico is already a hostile country that works to destroy us and it will only get worse if they go full commie.
> 
> Mostly he argues for anarchy and open borders so that communists can come here in the millions and impose communism on us.
> 
> It would be tyrannical of us to stop them.



Putting false words into my mouth doesn’t make me look the fool, it makes you one.

I advocate ending incentives and promoting Free Market solutions, along with my post above.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> Putting false words into my mouth doesn’t make me look the fool, it makes you one.
> 
> I advocate ending incentives and promoting Free Market solutions, along with my post above.


There is no contradiction between what I posted and what you posted and your conversations with me have made your position quite clear.
You oppose any positive measures to control the border or immigration in spite of the fact that millions of communists will come here even if we end the incentives and the foreign meddling.

----------


## PAF

> There is no contradiction between what I posted and what you posted and your conversations with me have made your position quite clear.


That’s your first contradiction.





> You oppose any positive measures to control the border or immigration in spite of the fact that millions of communists will come here even if we end the incentives and the foreign meddling.


That’s your second.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> That’s your first contradiction.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That’s your second.

----------


## Stratovarious

> What I want done goes unheard, unless we get a groundswell. Stop meddling in others affairs. Stop threatening/promoting/assisting forced unionization, which folks and business owners I know down in Mexico do not want. Begin trading freely and setting the example for others to follow. Things may take time but failure to do so will certainly ensure our own demise.


I agree with everything you said here with two caveats, on drawn for a post you 
wrote after this one;

1- Free Trade YES of course, but tariffs are a two way street, if Mexico can agree  
to cut all tariffs then yes, done.
2- Cut all incentives YES, absolutely , I've been screaming this for years, and jail / fine
offending employers.
-
The good thing about being open and flexible to new input and fact gathering is that 
I , personally (redundant I realize) came to the realization that cutting incentives is
only part of the issue , another much larger part is the fact that we have way too many 
inherent NATURAL-INCENTIVES enticing illegals to come here.
I also will add the fact that the freebie gifts are not going away anytime soon, we have
a crisis , we can't keep out terrorists, diseased, felons, gang bangers, you name it,
without better border security and a wall is going to be part of that security.

The 'Free Market' approach to Borders is an 'E' ticket to the next 3r world shthole,
that is fact.

----------


## PAF

> 2- Cut all incentives YES, absolutely , I've been screaming this for years, and jail / fine
> offending employers.
> 
> 
> The 'Free Market' approach to Borders is an 'E' ticket to the next 3r world shthole,
> that is fact.



Jail/fine employers opposes Free Market principles. I believe that Contract Rights should apply and it is no business of mine or the government who employers hire.

----------


## Stratovarious

> I agree with everything you said here with two caveats, on drawn for a post you 
> wrote after this one;
> 
> 1- Free Trade YES of course, but tariffs are a two way street, if Mexico can agree  
> to cut all tariffs then yes, done.
> 2- Cut all incentives YES, absolutely , I've been screaming this for years, and jail / fine
> offending employers.
> -
> The good thing about being open and flexible to new input and fact gathering is that 
> ...





> Jail/fine employers opposes Free Market principles. I believe that Contract Rights should apply and it is no business of mine or the government who employers hire.



No offence PAF, but when a guy practically writes a 'book' and you 
respond with a one liner bubble gum wrapper meme, I can't possibly
take you seriously.

----------


## PAF

> No offence PAF, but when a guy practically writes a 'book' and you 
> respond with a one liner bubble gum wrapper meme, I can't possibly
> take you seriously.


No offense taken, Strat. I am a man of few words, very well grounded in my positions, and figure you guys here on the forum can form your own conclusions. I'm not really here to write books or change minds as much as I am here to throw a thought out for folks to ponder.

If you have more direct questions I would be happy to try to answer the best that I can.


I agree with most of what you wrote which is why I omitted some of it.

----------


## Stratovarious

> No offense taken, Strat. I am a man of few words, very well grounded in my positions, and figure you guys here on the forum can form your own conclusions. I'm not really here to write books or change minds as much as I am here to throw a thought out for folks to ponder.
> 
> If you have more direct questions I would be happy to try to answer the best that I can.
> 
> 
> I agree with most of what you wrote which is why I omitted some of it.


Right , I get it, I just see so many here with the hit n' run one liners that a 9 year old 
can come up with, it gets annoying, I believe you are one of the sincere ones, even though
I can't get behind open borders.

----------


## PAF

> Right , I get it, I just see so many here with the hit n' run one liners that a 9 year old 
> can come up with, it gets annoying, I believe you are one of the sincere ones, even though
> I can't get behind open borders.



Likewise. There are a few quality posters that I make a point to follow each day, you are def one of them. I'm out of + Rep for you so I owe you one.

----------


## Stratovarious

> Likewise. There are a few quality posters that I make a point to follow each day, you are def one of them. I'm out of + Rep for you so I owe you one.


ha ha, I'm out of reps for you as well.
Forgive me in the future if I get a bit wild , I forget who is who from time to time, 
and just get cranky.

----------


## angelatc

> ^ This ^ on the RonPaulForums.
> 
> SwordShill, just when I think you can’t come up with anything more imbecile... you never cease to amaze me.


How do you envision it working out?

----------


## PAF

> How do you envision it working out?


Here’s an answer you’ll like:

By sacrificing every principle and going along with the statists in charge. It’s going that way anyway, requires no effort, and causes no waves. And it’s certain to work.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's National Commission for Regulatory Improvement is considering  raising the regulatory burden for private fuel importers to obtain  import permits, Milenio reported Feb. 20. Among other measures, the  changes will oblige importers to present more detailed information on  fuel transportation and storage, as well as the personal identification  and tax identification documents of the importers and at least two  clients.

The regulatory change is intended to impede private fuel imports to  Mexico and will restrict the ability of non-public retail chains to  enter the country.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...rt-regulations

The US campaign to destroy Mexico is well under way.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said his government  will not permit any new joint ventures for oil production between  state-owned energy company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and private  companies, Reuters reported Feb. 21. Lopez Obrador added that new joint  ventures would not be allowed until existing investments begin their  production.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-pemex-private

----------


## Swordsmyth

One of the seven members on the governing panel of Mexico’s National  Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) has stepped down citing personal reasons  halfway through his term, Reuters reports, adding this could give more power over the country’s oil industry to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
All  commissioners from the National Hydrocarbons Commission are nominated  by the president of the country and need to be approved by the Senate.  In the last three months another two members of the commission have also  resigned: its president, Juan Carlos Zepeda, who was nominated by the  Pena Nieto government, left in November. In that same month another  member of the regulator, Hector Acosta, left it to accept another  government position.
At the time, Reuters recalls, these  resignations caused worry that once elected, Obrador would hold a major  sway over the energy regulatory body as he nominates for commissioners  people close to him and his approach to the energy industry. This is  actually why commissioners on the CNH serve terms that overlap but do  not coincide with the terms of Mexico’s presidents, as a way of ensuring  relative independence. Now that Obrador would get to nominate not one  but three new commissioners, there may be some justification to the  worry.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...teps-Down.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will cancel a  planned open pit gold mine in Los Cardones, Baja California Sur state,  after local residents opposed the project, La Politica Online reported  March 3. Lopez Obrador initially planned to hold a referendum regarding  the mine, but ultimately decided against it due to a lack of authority  to proceed with the vote.

Lopez Obrador's latest decision to cancel a mining project highlights  the ever-growing risk to private investments posed by the president's  assertion of authority to cancel and expropriate projects that face  local resistance.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...california-sur
 @angelatc

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico will lose billions as a result of the new government’s  decision to delay oil and gas auctions while it reviews all contracts  awarded by the previous government over the three years since it began  holding auctions for oil and gas blocks.
"Every year you don't  have a bidding, it's going to cost you $1 billion," said a commissioner  from Mexico’s hydrocarbons commission, Hector Moreira Rodriguez, as quoted by S&P Global Platts.
Yet  the losses would not just be directly financial. A delay in tenders  will also interfere with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s plans  to boost Mexico’s oil production to 2.4 million bpd by 2024. According  to Rodriguez, with the delay, the country’s crude oil production will  grow by 300,000 bpd less over the next ten years than otherwise.


Yet, according to industry insiders who talked to S&P Global  Platts, even if the auctions are renewed before all contracts are  reviewed, chances are Mexico will not be able to reach its production  growth goals.
The reasons for this are natural depletion at legacy  fields and an insufficient number of new discoveries. This should make  the resumption of auctions all the more necessary if anything,  especially coupled with the government’s ambition to reduce the  country’s reliance on imported natural gas from the United States.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...ion-Delay.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's Congress has approved a constitutional reform to create a  national guard, Reuters reported March 14. At the same time, the lower  house has passed a separate charter reform proposal to facilitate more  frequent referendums, including a popular vote on whether to keep the  president in power, after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador  indicated that he intends to hold such a referendum in 2021.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...form-proposals

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he would order  federal authorities to stop awarding new mining concessions, La Jornada  reported March 18.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ng-concessions

----------


## Swordsmyth

The Mexican government plans to use money from a public income  stabilization fund to help reduce the sizeable debt pile that state  energy major Pemex has accumulated.
Reuters reports,  quoting the country’s deputy finance minister, that the fund is worth  US$15.4 billion and the government plans to make it “counter cyclical.”
“We’d  like to design it as a counter cyclical fund, like the copper funds in  Chile are designed, where the resources are used not when the government  wants to, but when the economy makes them necessary... In times of  abundance, you put money into these resources,” Arturo Herrera said,  adding “As a second part of the fund, we’d like to use it to pay some of  the debt obligations that Pemex has.”
The state company has around US$16 billion in bond payments due by the end of 2020, but its total debt is over US$100 billion.  In an effort to slim this down, earlier this year the Obrador  administration said it would inject US$3.6 billion into the company in  the form of debt refinancing and tax cuts.
The injection should  also help Pemex boost local oil and gas production as a means of  improving revenues and income despite a suspension of new oil and gas  block tenders while the administration reviews the contracts the  Pena-Nieto government signed with foreign oil companies in a bid to  reverse a consistent decline in production.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...emex-Debt.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Opposition parties in Mexico's Senate are refusing to provide the  necessary two-thirds support to approve President Andres Manuel Lopez  Obrador's nominees for the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), La  Politica Online reported March 21.

Withholding support for Lopez Obrador's nominees remains the only tool  for Mexico's opposition to pressure the president into modifying or  entirely abandoning his proposed referendum reform.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...nergy-watchdog

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> Withholding support for Lopez Obrador's nominees remains the only tool  for Mexico's opposition to pressure the president into modifying or  entirely abandoning his proposed referendum reform.



I disagree,

https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-a...co/david-jones

----------


## Swordsmyth

While Mexico suffered the bloodiest year of violent deaths in 2018,  even bigger trouble may be ahead for the embattled country.  For the  first time in more than 50 years, Mexico has become a net importer of  oil.  This is undoubtedly bad news for the Mexican Government as it has  relied upon its oil revenues to fund a large percentage of its public  spending.
  And, the majority of these revenues came from just one prolific oil  field.  After the discovery of the huge Cantarell Oil Field in the Gulf  of Mexico in 1976, Mexico's oil production surged from 894,000 barrels  per day to a peak of 3.8 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2004.  That  year, Mexico's net oil exports exceeded 1.8 mbd.
*Unfortunately, the downturn of Mexico's oil production was  also due to the peak and decline of the Cantarell Oil Field, which  topped out at 2.1 mbd in 2004 and is now below 135,000 barrels per day*:

  With the rapid decline in Cantarell's oil production, Mexico's net  oil exports also plummeted from 1.8 mbd in 2004 to only 314,000 barrels  per day in 2017.  However, the situation for Mexico's net oil exports  continued to deteriorate in 2018 as its domestic oil supply fell to a  new low at the end of the year.
  According to several sources, the BP 2018 Statistical Review, IEA's  OMR Reports, and the EIA's data on World Oil Production, Mexico became a  net oil importer in November 2018:

  I find it strange that this has not yet been mentioned in the news as  it is a very critical factor for the future of Mexico.  Now, I would  like to qualify that the data I am using is accurate.  I found Mexico's  total petroleum production and consumption data from the EIA, the _U.S. Energy Information Agency's World Oil Production Browser_, the IEA's, _the International Energy Agency OMR Reports_, and _BP's 2018  Statistical Review_.
*In just a little more than a year, Mexico's net oil exports  fell from 314,000 barrels per day to net imports of 90,000 barrels per  day in December 2018.*  This next chart shows Mexico's total oil supply versus consumption for each month in 2018:

  Of course, we don't know if Mexico will be able to increase  production, but if we consider the disaster that is taking place at  PEMEX, the country's national oil company, I highly doubt domestic oil  production will recover.  Why?  Well, let's just say, PEMEX is on the  verge of bankruptcy as the company published two troubling signs in its  Q4 2018 Financial Report:

Falling Oil ProductionRising Long-Term Debt
*According to PEMEX's Q4 2018  Report, oil production fell from 1.90 mbd Q4 2017 to 1.76 mbd in Q4 2018.*  These figures are for oil production only and do not include NGPL  (natural gas plant liquids) and refining gains.  Which is why it doesn't  add up to the 1.94 mbd for December 2018 shown in the chart above.
  Regardless, oil production continues to decline at PEMEX while it's  long-term debt reached a new record high of $96 billion last year:

  So, even with all the additional capital expenditures, (shown by the  massive increase in long-term debt), PEMEX was not able to prevent the  inevitable decline of its domestic oil production.  What happens to  PEMEX when oil production really starts to decline?
*Sadly, as domestic oil supply continues to decline, the  Mexican Government will have lower oil revenues to support its public  spending.  I believe Mexico is likely one of the next OIL DOMINOS to  fall... and it won't be pretty.*


More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...t-oil-importer

----------


## Pauls' Revere

March 30, 2019.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...mp/3309462002/

EL PASO – Under a bridge connecting the U.S. with Mexico, dozens of migrant families cram into a makeshift camp set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The families are there because permanent processing facilities have run out of room.

Seven hundred miles east, busload after busload of weary, bedraggled migrants crowd into the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. Organizers there are used to handling 200 to 300 migrants a day. Lately, the migrants have been arriving at a clip of around 800 a day, overflowing the respite center and straining city resources.

“It’s staggering,” McAllen City Manager Roy Rodriguez said. “Really, we’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Along the Texas border with Mexico – from El Paso to Eagle Pass to the Rio Grande Valley – masses of migrants have been crossing the border in unprecedented numbers, overwhelming federal holding facilities and sending local leaders and volunteers scrambling to deal with the relentless waves of people.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) coalition is  planning a constitutional reform to expand the country's Supreme Court  from 11 to 16 ministers and make the five new members part of a  specialized anti-corruption body within the court, La Silla Rota  reported April 4.

A successful reform to add new ministers to Mexico's Supreme Court would  likely grant President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador greater control of  the court by appointing politically aligned ministers. Adding five  anti-corruption ministers to the court could also allow the  administration to enact politically motivated investigations and  continue them despite negative rulings by lower level courts.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-supreme-court

----------


## Danke

> March 30, 2019.
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...mp/3309462002/
> 
> EL PASO – Under a bridge connecting the U.S. with Mexico, dozens of migrant families cram into a makeshift camp set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The families are there because permanent processing facilities have run out of room.
> 
> Seven hundred miles east, busload after busload of weary, bedraggled migrants crowd into the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. Organizers there are used to handling 200 to 300 migrants a day. Lately, the migrants have been arriving at a clip of around 800 a day, overflowing the respite center and straining city resources.
> 
> “It’s staggering,” McAllen City Manager Roy Rodriguez said. “Really, we’ve never seen anything like this before.”
> ...

----------


## Swordsmyth

The Mexican government may consider creating a small network of gas  stations that would sell gasoline at lower, “fair prices”, if gas  station operators in the country don’t keep gas prices in check,  Mexico’s leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Tuesday.
López  Obrador—in office since December 1, 2018—called on gas station  operators in Mexico to sell gas at lower prices by cutting their profit  margins, Reuters quoted the Mexican president as saying at a regular  news briefing on Tuesday.
The government will publicize which gas stations in Mexico sell gasoline at the lowest prices, said López Obrador.
“If  this doesn’t work... to reach our goal of no price increases, we would  consider creating a network of gas stations... enough so that stations  sell at fair prices,” Lopez Obrador said at today’s briefing, as carried  by Reuters.


One hundred days into office, López Obrador has already cancelled  upcoming oil and gas auctions and banned fracking in moves undoing his  predecessor’s energy reform that opened Mexico’s oil industry to foreign  investment in 2013 for the first time in seven decades.
“For all  practical purposes, energy reform in Mexico is dead,” Tony Payan,  director of the Mexico Center at Rice University’s Baker Institute, told  Houston Chronicle’s Sergio Chapa last month.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-In-Check.html


I can't wait to be told that Mexico's collapse is all the fault of the US.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

Ok, this is one government warning im paying attention too.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/10/polit...isk/index.html

*Washington (CNN)The US State Department has updated its travel advisories for 35 countries with a new indicator to highlight the risk of kidnapping and hostage taking.* 

Travel advisories the following countries have been updated to include the "K" indicator: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, *Mexico*, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russian Federation, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine (in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine), Venezuela, and Yemen.

K = Kidnapping risk. I guess the State Department wanted to make it easier for US Citizens to understand. So you know, this not to be confused number of strikes a country has.

----------


## Swordsmyth

A Mexican think tank has declared that Pemex’s newest refinery is  doomed in a grim analysis released this month. The Mexican Institute for  Competitiveness (Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, or IMCO for  short) released a damning financial analysis of the Dos Bocas refinery,  currently being developed in Tabasco by state-owned oil company  Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which gave the project a mere 2 percent  chance of success. Highlighting the disastrous findings of the financial  analysis, a report accompanying the results warns that if Mexico goes  through with the Dos Bocas project, it “could generate a serious crisis  for the public finances of the whole country.”
The Dos Bocas  project is being backed strongly by Mexican president Andrés Manuel  López Obrador and is to be built in his home state of Tabasco. The newly  elected leftist president ran on a platform of “energy sovereignty” for  Mexico and a large-scale campaign to bail out Pemex, which has seen  many years of decline in its once-booming production partnered with  exponentially ballooning debt. Pemex has not only seen a nosedive in its  oil extraction and refining, it has also suffered a 42 percent cut in  natural gas production since 2009, a major blow to an all-important  segment of the nation’s power and manufacturing sectors.


The Dos Bocas refinery is an ambitious and pricey  project--the first refinery of its size to be built in North America  since 1977--and is projected to be completed in four years with a price  tag to the tune of 160-billion-pesos (US $8.5-billion). In their  analysis, IMCO smartly points out that regional history shows us that  that four-year timeline and 160-billion-peso budget are both likely to  be overly optimistic estimates on the part of the Mexican government. 

The IMCO analysis created a financial model for the Dos Bocas  refinery and ran it through a Monte Carlo simulation in order to study  30,000 potential development scenarios. The study included variable such  as refining margins, total investment, construction time and operating  costs, and concluded that a whopping 98 percent of the scenarios  studied, the refinery would produce more cost than benefit, making it an  almost certain financial and strategic failure for the already  struggling and long-mismanaged Pemex.
Based on the think tank’s  financial analysis, IMCO argues that the ill-fated project should be  scrapped altogether, and the funds diverted into exploration and  production, a much more profitable segment of the industry, instead. As  the “least profitable” segment of the oil and gas industry, refining  should not be the focus for a company with as much cash flow issues  as Pemex. In addition to redirecting investment away from Dos Bocas and  into E&P, IMCO recommends that López Obrador and Pemex invest more  money and attention into improving efficiency and earnings in the  company’s six existing refineries.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...dy-Doomed.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on April 16 ordered  Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero, Public Education Secretary  Esteban Moctezuma and Finance Minister Carlos Urzua to halt enforcement  of the education reforms approved by Congress in 2013. That  constitutional reform of the country's education system had enacted  accountability measures, including frequent performance evaluations and  stricter sanctions for teachers who did not meet performance  requirements.

Lopez Obrador's decision matters for three main reasons. First, it sets  the stage for a high-profile political conflict between the courts and  political opposition against Lopez Obrador and his allies in the  teachers' unions. The unions had long campaigned against education reform, and Lopez Obrador had made repealing the reform a campaign promise.  Mexico's opposition is likely to challenge the decree in federal court,  and a reversal of the president's decree is likely. Such a ruling would  almost certainly spark major demonstrations, possibly leading to supply  chain disruptions for companies that rely on the Pacific coast port of  Lazaro Cardenas to import goods or manufacturing inputs. Mexico's  combative teachers' unions have frequently blocked rail and road links  to the port to voice their opposition to education reform.

Regardless of how courts rule on the decree's legality, its existence  alone will make it harder for future presidents to proceed under the  2013 education reforms; the unions have already tasted victory, and  getting them to comply with reform will now be nearly impossible in some  particularly fractious places. This, in turn, will make improving the  skills of Mexico's workforce harder, something with negative implications for foreign investors.

The  move also creates uncertainty over what other laws Lopez Obrador might  try to erase by presidential fiat even though he clearly does not have  the power to overturn constitutional reforms or legislation by decree  alone. Such actions will deepen the polarization separating supporters  and opponents of reforms and legislation that the president targets;  Lopez Obrador may be able to extract political capital from his  supporters' inflamed sentiments over reform.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...cation-reforms

----------


## AZJoe

*Mexico Becomes A Net Oil Importer*

While Mexico suffered the bloodiest year of violent deaths in 2018, even bigger trouble may be ahead for the embattled country.  For the first time in more than 50 years, Mexico has become a net importer of oil.  This is undoubtedly bad news for the Mexican Government as it has relied upon its oil revenues to fund a large percentage of its public spending.

And, the majority of these revenues came from just one prolific oil field.  … Cantarell Oil Field in the Gulf of Mexico …

Unfortunately, the downturn of Mexico’s oil production was also due to the peak and decline of the Cantarell Oil Field, which topped out at 2.1 mbd in 2004 and is now below 135,000 barrels per day:



...



...

----------


## Swordsmyth

*On February 17, some 300 people from the Mexican state of  Guerrero set up camp outside of Mexico City’s National Palace to  pressure the government to address their forced displacement by drug  gangs from their homes in the Sierra Madre.* Two weeks earlier, president Andrés Manuel López Obrador had announced that Mexico’s war against narcotrafficking was over.
 _“There is no war. We want peace, we’re going to get peace,”_ he’d told reporters in his daily morning press conference.For communities like the displaced from Guerrero, Mexico’s war on  drugs is alive and well. The hand-lettered posters around their tent  encampment detailed their complaints:
 _“In Guerrero there is no guarantee of anything. It’s a narco state.”_Since then-President Felipe Calderon first announced Mexico’s war  against drugs in 2006, military deployment in states with a strong  cartel presence has dramatically altered the life of Mexicans. In  Guerrero, home to many of the country’s opium fields, hundreds of people  have been displaced as a result of turf wars and corruption, as gangs  and traffickers have colluded with security forces and government  officials.


Manuel Olivares, the director of a Mexican human-rights center that  has been providing support to the displaced people from Guerrero, says  the situation is the result of the drug war’s deployment of the military  in the streets: over 600,000 troops have been deployed across Mexico to  fight narcos. In some areas, Olivares says, state police and the army  actively collaborate with gangs to manage gang territory.
_“When the military was deployed, they hit some cartels in some states very hard,”_ he  explains. As a result, cartels fragmented into smaller gangs who began  to fight increasingly bloody turf wars, resulting in entire communities  being forced from their homes at gunpoint; over 200,000 people have been  killed in the process, and around 40,000 people have been forcibly  disappeared.
  During his presidential campaign, López Obrador insisted he’d take a  new approach to the drug war. Instead of the militarization that  characterized his predecessors, López Obrador has largely advocated for  peace building and transitional justice, even speaking about the  possibility of amnesty for narcotraffickers during his presidential  campaign. In November, López Obrador presented his National Peace and Security Plan that  plans to “reformulate the combat of drugs” through changing structures  of penalization of drugs, address impunity of state actors, reorient  national security strategies and seek justice for victims of drug  war-related violence. In presenting the plan, the president discussed  the need to “begin a peace process with organized crime organizations  and adopt models of transitional justice that guarantee the rights of  victims.”
*Such a change in approach could mean moving from the prohibition and criminalization that has defined drug policy worldwide since the 1960s.* Zara  Snapp, the founder of drug research and advocacy organization Instituto  RIA, sees López Obrador’s declaration as primarily a shift in strategy.  “It means they aren’t going after the big capos anymore,” she explains.  But while the war against the narcotraffickers has ended, she argues,  “the government also needs to end the war against the people.” That  includes everyone from families of disappeared people, to people  displaced by turf wars, to drug users and small-scale producers.
  López Obrador has also announced a new Plan for Search of Disappeared People, with an allocation of $2 million to  investigate the cases of the 40,000-some disappearances since the start  of the drug war. Amaya Ordorika, who advocates for sensible drug policy  and the end of the drug war with the nonprofit group ReverdeSer  Colectivo, says the new plan could be a step towards repairing some of  the harm of the drug war. Historically, families of disappeared people  have faced, at best, a lack of capacity and institutional will in  investigating their cases, and at worst, corruption and complicity of  authorities in forced disappearance.
*Ordorika echoes that a new drug strategy ought to move from  criminalizing the substances and illegal markets themselves, to  centering the communities affected by the war on drugs.*
 “We talk about narcotrafficking and everyone imagines Chapo Guzman or  the big cartels,” she says, “but if we unpack the concept of  narcotrafficking, a ton of people at different levels in the chain  participate in different ways.”At the lowest end of the supply chain are small-scale farmers who  cultivate poppy and marijuana, women who transport small amounts of  drugs and small-scale sellers who tend to be people with few economic  alternatives. “These populations are over-criminalized,” Ordorika says,  as organized crime structures treat them as replaceable, and they lack  the protection of powerful drug capos.
*There’s another side to these developments:* while López Obrador has spoken in favor of demilitarization, *NGOs  and activists have criticized his implementation of a new National  Guard because of its potential to heighten military presence*.  The original plan called for the body to comprise active members of the  military, the federal police and military and naval police. A report from the NGO Mexican Commission for Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) argues  that the National Guard gives further license to the human rights  violations that have occurred as a result of the drug war, and that it  is contrary to the “transitional justice process” that López Obrador has  mentioned with respect to the drug war.
*The Senate eventually approved the measure under the condition that it remain under civil, rather than military, control, but López Obrador announced in April that the head of the National Guard would be a military general.*  Catalina Perez Correa, a researcher at the Drug Policy Program at  Mexico City’s Center for Economic Research and Education (CIDE), says  that the National Guard has the potential to go either way. “It depends  how it is implemented,” she says. “It could be an opportunity to reduce  the damage that has been caused by militarization, unless AMLO uses it  as an excuse to further militarize the country.”
  Perez Correa says it is crucial for the administration to take steps toward regulating drug markets. López Obrador has insinuated in the past that he make take steps towards legalization of cannabis,  and Perez Correa emphasizes that violence reduction will depend on how  cannabis is eventually regulated in Mexico. “If it is a strategy that  favors big capital, it’s very possible that the violence will continue,  with farmers obligated to plant drugs becoming exploited by big  cannabis.”
  Snapp also argues that the end of the drug war should necessarily  involve a de-stigmatization of drug use in general. “We have to stop  creating conditions where people who use drugs can be extorted by  authorities and where resources from drug markets get to organized  crime.” Regulation, she says, should be a tool to rebuilt the social  fabric in communities torn apart by the drug war. “We can use regulation  to repair the harm that prohibition has caused,” she says. “For us, it  wouldn’t be a good regulation if they don’t involve those who are today  involved in the illegal market.”
*This means changing the conversation around drug addiction in general—a step that López Obrador may not be willing to take.*
  In mid-March, he proposed giving the church its own television and  radio channels in order to transmit moral values to combat drug use.  “It’s not enough to say, my policies changed,” says Ordorika. “For  decades, there was a public discourse, and you have to reverse the  effects of that by implementing a new public discourse of repairing  damages and social reconciliation of people who’ve been marginalized,  stigmatized, criminalized.” For Ordorika, that new discourse should  involve a framework focused on harm reduction, through initiatives like  supervised injection sites and comprehensive drug education behind the  just-say-no model.


Whatever its eventual details, a new drug policy for Mexico will also  inevitably have severe consequences for its relationship with the  United States. Washington has invested up to $3 billion in Mexico’s drug warthrough  the Mérida Initiative, a bilateral agreement made in 2007. Concurrent  with the increased funding to the drug war, though, homicides and other  violent crimes have only increased. “We are actually making an investment not in our security, but in our insecurity,” says Snapp.
*The end of the drug war would mean the United States could choose to withhold aid, Ordorika says.* Still, she sees it as an issue of international sovereignty:
 “To what point does the neighboring country have the right to insert  itself to the degree that the main problem comes from a policy  implemented and financed by the neighboring country?”At the end of March, the displaced people from Guerrero finally came to an agreement with the Mexican government to return to their state. *For the time being, they can’t return to their homes, and the government didn’t fulfill their demands for resettlement,* but they’ve been temporarily housed in a municipal auditorium in the town of Chichihualco.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...mexicans-agree

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexican Mafia threatening Mexican President if he does not cease operations against it

----------


## Swordsmyth

The lower house of the Mexican Congress has approved a constitutional  reform to effectively end federal oversight of teachers' unions by  disbanding the country's National Institute for the Evaluation of  Education and replacing it with a new institution that will ostensibly  comply with labor guidelines set out in the Mexican Constitution,  Milenio reported April 26.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...form-education

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/...003235102.html

Violence in Mexico has hit new heights in the first quarter of 2019, with 8,493 murders recorded from January to March, according to official figures.

The Executive Secretariat of the Public Security National System revealed that the number represents a 9.6 percent rise on the same period in 2018.

Last year was considered the most violent in Mexico's history, with more than 33,500 murders - the highest number since records began in 1997.

*The new record contradicts claims by leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that murders have not increased during his presidency, which began in December. 
Will Mexico's UN-backed fight against crime worsen crisis?(2:28)*

At a Navy event Sunday, Lopez Obrador defended the creation of a National Guard, his key strategy to fight the wave of violence that has engulfed Mexico since the government declared war on the country's powerful drug cartels in 2006.

"What concerns us the most is guaranteeing public safety," he said. "That is why a reform of the constitution was proposed so that the army and the navy can help us."

*The National Guard is due to take over policing duties given to the military.*

Mexico has recorded nearly 250,000 murders since deploying the army, including last year's record as the newly fragmented cartels battle the military and each other, with widespread collateral damage.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's Senate has voted against a proposed constitutional overhaul of  the country's 2013 education reform after the lower house of Congress  approved the measure, El Economista reported April 30.

The education reform's failure highlights that Mexican President Andres  Manuel Lopez Obrador still lacks the required two-thirds majority in the  country's Senate to approve constitutional reforms, which may limit his  ability to implement additional pending measures, such as another  constitutional overhaul to allow more frequent and legally binding  referendums.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...on-reform-plan

----------


## Swordsmyth

Pemex is struggling--to put it lightly. Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s  long-mismanaged state-owned oil company, has been bleeding money as its  production levels have fallen to a trickle of their former production  levels over the last decade. Now, Pemex is reporting a 36 billion peso  ($1.9 billion U.S. dollars) loss in the first quarter.
While these  numbers are grim, especially compared to the 113-billion-peso profit  reported in the first quarter last year, Mexican officials say that  things are headed in the right direction for Pemex. It’s true that a  loss of 36 billion pesos in the first quarter is a marked improvement  over the previous quarter’s crushing loss of 157.3 billion pesos.  Furthermore, officials at Pemex are reporting that the new  tough-on-corruption administration, headed by leftist Mexican president  Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has had considerable success in its efforts  to cut down on fuel theft--locally known as huachicoleo--a persistent and widespread issue in Mexico.


Mexican officials went on to say that this quarter’s  lessened rate of loss is a direct result of the company’s new direction  under López Obrador as well as a 121-billion-peso foreign exchange  profit. Officials also claim that Mexican crude production, which has  been in severe decline for the last 15 years, is now finally under  control. So far this year, Mexico averaged 1.69 million barrels per day  of crude production, and Pemex reports that the goal for 2019 is a total  production of 1.725 million barrels per day. “We have made  improvements, although gradual ones. We have advanced in all areas. The  challenges will require time to resolve but the trend is  clear. . . Pemex is moving in the right direction,” Pemex chief  financial officer Alberto Velázquez was reported by Financial Times to have said in a conference call with analysts. 

More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oi...uel-Theft.html

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## Swordsmyth

The Mexican Senate will hold a special session starting May 14 to  approve a constitutional reform to overhaul the institutions that  oversee the country's public education sector, La Silla Rota reported  May 1. The chamber voted against the constitutional reform on May 1.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's ruling National Regeneration  Movement, or Morena, may resort to tactics such as limiting the presence  of opposition senators to cast their vote. The party may use similar  measures to ensure the approval of another reform proposal to allow more  frequent and legally-binding referendums.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ucation-reform

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s newest oil refinery project is set to exceed the planned budget—and in a big way—according to Moody’s cited by Reuters.
The  massive undertaking—by Mexico itself, no less—will most likely cost as  much as between $2 billion and $4 billion more than it had originally  planned, Moody’s said, citing its “limited know-how,” ironically exactly  the situation Mexico sought to avoid when Mexico’s President, Andres  Manuel Lopez Obrador,  shunned Big Oil last week, cutting them out of  the project all together for submitting bids that were over on time and  over on budget.
Mexico had originally sought out international  help for the massive refinery that would bring Mexico closer to energy  efficiency, garnering bids from Bechtel/Techint, Worley Parsons, and  KBR. All three bids submitted pegged the costs somewhere between $10  billion and $12 billion, and the time to complete between four and six  years.
Obrador thought the project should cost $8 billion and be completed in three years.
Displeased  with what this international help had to offer, Mexico decided to go it  alone on this project—a decision that likely led Moody’s to prophecy  large cost overruns anyway.
“Given the government’s (and Pemex’s)  lack of experience in building refineries, the project is likely to end  up costing more and taking longer than the government anticipates,  placing further strains on fiscal resources,” Moody’s said in a  statement to Reuters.
Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, is already the most indebted oil company in the world, and has been  hemorrhaging cash for years—even in the days of $100 oil.
Earlier today, Mexico Daily News  reported that three banks were extending an $8 billion loan to Pemex to  add to its heavy debt burden, which is already more than $100 billion.


https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-Overruns.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

The Mexican government has approved a fiscal stimulus measure that  could see Pemex raise oil production by as much as 400,000 bpd, S&P  Global Platts reports, quoting the country’s Finance Minister, Carlos Urzua.
The  legislation concerns a credit agreement with a group of lenders  including HSBC, JP Morgan, and Mizuho Securities. Under the new terms,  the maturity of a loan of US$5.5 billion will be extended by two years  and some US$2.5 billion in existing debt will be refinanced, the  official said.
The money will be used to boost oil production at  ageing fields that are currently uneconomical to continue exploiting. To  do this, the fields that the measure covers will be migrated from  legacy assignment titles to production sharing agreements that were  introduced by the previous Mexican government as part of a sweeping  energy reform passed in 2014.

More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...00000-Bpd.html

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## Swordsmyth

Fifth Journalist this year found dead in Mexico

----------


## Swordsmyth

The Mexican Senate will hold special sessions June 19-21 to discuss and  potentially approve a constitutional reform to hold popular referendums  and recall elected officials, El Heraldo de Mexico reported May 21.  Mexico's lower house of Congress has already approved the reform.

The constitutional reform would allow Mexican voters to hold legally  binding referendums on policies and even individual private investments.  If approved, it would increase risks for industries that often clash  with local interest, particularly energy, mining, agriculture and retail  sectors.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...utional-reform

----------


## goldenequity



----------


## Swordsmyth

The  former director of Mexico’s state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos  (PEMEX) has been was arrested Friday on corruption and bribery charges

----------


## Swordsmyth

The mexican peso is sliding fast this morning following the surprise resignation of finance minister Carlos Urzua.
  Urzua tweeted his resignation letter:_ "I appreciate the opportunity to have been able to serve Mexico."_
 Agradezco la oportunidad de haber podido servir a México. pic.twitter.com/aaa2cIa9uI
 — Carlos Urzúa (@CarlosUrzuaSHCP) July 9, 2019And the immediate reaction is selling pesos on uncertainty (back above 19/USD again)...

  Mexican stocks are also fading.

  Urzua proclaimed that *"administration decisions were made without sufficient backing"* and added that* "some government officials held conflicts of interest,"* and criticized "the imposition of officials with no experience."


More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...licts-interest

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## PAF

Always get gas at Oxxo. Always.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's federal police officers have reached an agreement with  government officials to end their strike, El Sol de Mexico reported July  9. The Mexican government has agreed not to fire or force the  resignations of any officers and agreed to respect their seniority and  benefits.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ce-strike-ends

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico's Arturo Herrera looks grim in a viral video in which  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador names him finance minister, a job  Herrera's predecessor left in a huff at a time when Latin America's  second largest economy is signaling weakness.With Herrera at his  side, Lopez Obrador for nearly six minutes plays down former Finance  Minister Carlos Urzua's fiery and unexpected resignation letter accusing  the government of formulating economic policy without sufficient  foundation.
The well-regarded Herrera looks so downcast in the  video as to garner far more online attention than Lopez Obrador's  Tuesday remarks.
Internet users interpreted Herrera's thought  process with such lines as, "What if I resigned right now?" "I should  have studied childcare" and the ironic "best day ever!"
Body  language and behavioral analyst Jesus Enrique Rosas at the Knesix  Institute said Herrera's avoidance of eye contact and rapid blinking -  some 60 blinks per minute versus a normal rate of 15 per minute - might  reflect heightened nervousness.
As Lopez Obrador repeats his  trademark promises, Herrera's blinking increases; he gulps and displays  other signs of uneasiness, Rosas said.
Apparent critics of Lopez Obrador's leftward policy shift branded Herrera's stare as the "face of Mexico."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/best-day-ever...211219001.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

A judge in Mexico on Wednesday ordered a prominent attorney linked to  former presidents to stand trial on charges of organized crime and  money laundering.A federal official who was not authorized to be  quoted by name confirmed the case involves allegations that lawyer Juan  Ramon Collado created front companies to handle money from questionable  land deals.
Collado has reportedly represented the brother of ex-President Carlos Salinas and other prominent politicians.
Collado  was arrested Tuesday in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood. The judge  in the case ruled there was enough evidence to hold him pending trial.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the case was filed two or  three years ago but had been ignored by the previous administration of  President Enrique Pena Nieto, which also reportedly had ties to Collado.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/attorney-ex-p...173336226.html

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, under pressure after  the resignation of his finance minister, warned other officials may quit  his government as part of the deep policy changes he is leading.“In  a democratic government there are always differences and  disagreements,” Lopez Obrador said Wednesday at his daily press  conference. “You have to get used to the changes and there could even be  other resignations.”

AMLO, as the Mexican leader is known, said the resignation of Carlos  Urzua on Tuesday stems from disagreements over the country’s national  development plan. Urzua also disagreed about the management of Mexico’s  state-owned banks, the president said, adding that the former finance  minister had clashed with his Chief of Staff Alfonso Romo and with the  head of Mexico’s tax collection agency.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-presi...131532482.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

https://twitter.com/realJeffreyP/sta...55085127864326

----------


## Swordsmyth

https://twitter.com/realJeffreyP/sta...20731246391302

----------


## Swordsmyth

Police found more than 40 skulls, dozens of bones and a fetus in a  glass jar next to an altar in the den of suspected drug traffickers in  Mexico City during a raid this week, authorities said on Sunday.Four  of the skulls were built into the altar in the central Tepito  neighborhood, where police arrested 31 people on Tuesday on suspicion of  drug cartel activity, the city government said in a statement. A judge  ordered 27 of the suspects released.
A photo distributed by the  Mexico City attorney general's office showed skulls clustered around the  altar, which had a cross behind it adorned with a horned wooden face  mask.
To the right of the altar was a painted wall full of symbols  that included a pyramid topped with a hand, celestial bodies and the  head of a goat with a hexagram between its horns, according to photos of  the room published by local media.
In front of the wall stood a variety of objects, including dozens of wooden sticks with colored markings.
A  spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said authorities were  still investigating the provenance of the skulls, at least 42 of which  had been found.
Investigators also discovered knives, 40 jawbones,  the fetus and 30 leg or arm bones at the site, the office said. It was  not yet clear whether the fetus was human, the spokeswoman said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/over-40-skull...012127893.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

Wonder what timeline they give for Mexico's collapse?




https://nypost.com/2019/10/27/americ...icos-collapse/

It also seems that the matter of who controls the Mexican state of Sinaloa effectively was resolved in armed conflict — and it isn’t AMLO.
*The implications of this are obvious. Mexico just failed a fundamental test of governmental legitimacy: It is either unable, or unwilling, to protect its citizens from organized lawlessness. (The avocado farmers, of course, already knew that.)
And this, in turn, ratifies a warning from US Joint Forces Command that Mexico is slipping toward national collapse — and this was before government troops were losing all-out gun battles with criminals.
It doesn’t take much imagination to anticipate what such a collapse would mean for the United States. A legitimate refugee crisis would dwarf the manufactured border chaos that convulsed American politics this year. And it remains that Mexico is America’s third-largest trading partner, amounting to some $557 billion in business in 2017.
Potential solutions are elusive. Enhanced law enforcement stands only to drive up drug prices and cartel profits. And a more radical approach — attempting to remove profits through drug legalization — would encounter so many legal, cultural and moral barriers in the United States that it is an *effective nonstarter.
So the crisis is likely to proceed.*
But as it does, don’t lose sight of one core truth: America is, and has long been, the world’s largest importer of illegal drugs, and Americans aren’t being forced to use them.
As the philosopher Walt Kelly once noted: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Mexico likely wouldn’t disagree.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> Wonder what timeline they give for Mexico's collapse?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> https://nypost.com/2019/10/27/americ...icos-collapse/
> 
> It also seems that the matter of who controls the Mexican state of Sinaloa effectively was resolved in armed conflict — and it isn’t AMLO.
> *The implications of this are obvious. Mexico just failed a fundamental test of governmental legitimacy: It is either unable, or unwilling, to protect its citizens from organized lawlessness. (The avocado farmers, of course, already knew that.)
> ...


I hope it happens while Trump is still in office because he might militarize our border and neither occupy Mexico nor allow millions of Mexicans to flood in to the US.

----------


## Swordsmyth

A proposal to allow for the prosecution of Mexican presidents for a  wide range of crimes overwhelmingly passed the lower house of Congress  on Tuesday, giving the proposal backed by President Andres Manuel Lopez  Obrador a shot of momentum.Under current law, presidents can only be prosecuted for treason.
If  ratified by the Mexican Senate and then passed by a majority of state  legislatures, the proposal would reform the country's constitution to  allow presidents to be charged for crimes including corruption and  organized crime.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-lawma...235148540.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Police in London on Tuesday detained Karime Macias, the wife of a  disgraced former Mexican state governor who is serving a 9-year jail  sentence for money laundering and links to organized crime, a spokesman  for Mexico's attorney general's office said.Macias will now face an extradition trial in Britain, the spokesman said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/london-police...180551277.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

The approval rating of Mexico's president has fallen by nearly ten percentage points following a surge in gang-related violence, according to a poll published by Mexican newspaper El Universal on Friday.
The survey  of 1,000 Mexicans found that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly  known as AMLO -- who has touted a less confrontational approach to the  issue of cartels and other gangs -- had an approval rating of 58.7  percent, down from 68.7 percent in late August.
The decrease could be related to criticism of Obrador after a two major incidents within the past month, according to Reuters.


More at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexica...-gang-violence

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## Swordsmyth

Mexican President promises release of Governor jailed for laundering cartel money

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...cid=spartandhp

The United States has warned its citizens to stay away from the lawless border state of Tamaulipas, assigning the area in Mexico the same alert level given to war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Syria.

The Mexico City-based Institute for Women in Migration, which has tracked kidnappings of migrants and asylum-seekers, documented 212 abductions in Tamaulipas from mid-July through Oct. 15. Of the documented kidnappings in Tamaulipas, 197 took place in Nuevo Laredo, a city of about 500,000 with international bridges contributing to the trade economy.

Kennji Kizuka, a researcher for New York-based *Human Rights First, said gangs were in the Nuevo Laredo office of Mexican migration, openly abducting asylum seekers who the United States had just sent back.*
As of August, Human Rights First had recorded 100 violent crimes against returnees. By October, after it rolled out to Tamaulipas, that had more than tripled to 340. Most involved kidnapping and extortion.

and then there's this...




> Mexican President promises release of Governor jailed for laundering cartel money


I'm sensing a pattern here...

Cartel gets money from drugs, extortion, etc. the money gets laundered, (see above). The Mexican Government gets paid and Judges are bought off. If you don't abide and agree you will meet your end* [WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO]*.

https://heavy.com/news/2016/10/el-ch...rias-you-tube/

----------


## Swordsmyth

> https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...cid=spartandhp
> 
> The United States has warned its citizens to stay away from the lawless border state of Tamaulipas, assigning the area in Mexico the same alert level given to war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Syria.
> 
> The Mexico City-based Institute for Women in Migration, which has tracked kidnappings of migrants and asylum-seekers, documented 212 abductions in Tamaulipas from mid-July through Oct. 15. Of the documented kidnappings in Tamaulipas, 197 took place in Nuevo Laredo, a city of about 500,000 with international bridges contributing to the trade economy.
> 
> Kennji Kizuka, a researcher for New York-based *Human Rights First, said gangs were in the Nuevo Laredo office of Mexican migration, openly abducting asylum seekers who the United States had just sent back.*
> As of August, Human Rights First had recorded 100 violent crimes against returnees. By October, after it rolled out to Tamaulipas, that had more than tripled to 340. Most involved kidnapping and extortion.


That country sounds too dangerous to allow anyone in to the US from it.

And I note that they are trying to set things up so that Mexico is "too dangerous" to let Trump make people stay there, I predicted that some time ago.

Turning reality on its head is standard procedure for the left.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> That country sounds too dangerous to allow anyone in to the US from it.
> 
> And I note that they are trying to set things up so that Mexico is "too dangerous" to let Trump make people stay there, I predicted that some time ago.
> 
> Turning reality on its head is standard procedure for the left.


I think we're screwed either way. Immigration is/has been lucrative as well as drug trafficking. The U.S. is one big magnet now. Free healthcare for illegals, the chance at a better life, Jobs, stronger currency,= from where they came, housing subsides, food stamps and the welfare system in general. This we all know, but I'm wondering when does Mexico become Venezuela? I'm thinking it's one of two things. 1) The Mexican Government nationalizes the entire police force into the national army and we see soldiers on every street corner. 2) There will be a violent coup de tat between the cartels and military/police state. This coup will have significant support from the public. When the cartels can equally provide basic necessities (security, food, medicine) as well as the government, then the government has real problems. Think Hamas, which serves it's people and still fights Israel.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> I think we're screwed either way. Immigration is/has been lucrative as well as drug trafficking. The U.S. is one big magnet now. Free healthcare for illegals, the chance at a better life, Jobs, stronger currency,= from where they came, housing subsides, food stamps and the welfare system in general. This we all know, but I'm wondering when does Mexico become Venezuela? I'm thinking it's one of two things. 1) The Mexican Government nationalizes the entire police force into the national army and we see soldiers on every street corner. 2) There will be a violent coup de tat between the cartels and military/police state. This coup will have significant support from the public. When the cartels can equally provide basic necessities (security, food, medicine) as well as the government, then the government has real problems.


I agree, I have been saying it will turn into a dictatorship and/or a cartel anarchy sooner or later for a while now.
We need to militarize the border before we get dragged into a war in Mexico.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> I agree, I have been saying it will turn into a dictatorship and/or a cartel anarchy sooner or later for a while now.
> We need to militarize the border before we get dragged into a war in Mexico.


Here's food for thought.

Just my imagination talking here: What if we become involved in a proxy war with China through Mexico?

----------


## Swordsmyth

> Here's food for thought.
> 
> Just my imagination talking here: What if we become involved in a proxy war with China through Mexico?


China has been preparing to invade us through Mexican ports and the NAFTA superhighway, that plan has been set back but it is still a danger.

Hopefully Trump fighting back in the trade wars will prevent that but it is a very real danger.

We need to militarize the border ASAP.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlo...d-idea-mexico/
[sic]
_The consequences of the decades-long militarization of Mexican drug policing have been twofold. They have ensured U.S. military aid, enhancing Mexican security forces and ultimately ensuring the federal government maintains order and control, especially in drug-producing regions. But history has also shown that at times the government’s policing practices have hurt its credibility with the Mexican people. The result was that in the vicinity of the drug trade, Mexican citizens came to distrust the federal government because of abuses committed in the name of drug policing.

This mistrust means that demilitarizing too quickly would destroy an ingrained policing infrastructure and probably create a power vacuum filled by organized criminal groups. As Mexican cartels have grown more powerful, these groups at times have secured citizen support by both providing benefits to citizens that the government did not and more recently by using fear-provoking tactics against citizens._

This kind of talk sounds like the same kind of talk you hear when they discuss Syria or Iraq. Expect that U.S. support for the militarization of Mexican policing to continue.

----------


## PAF

> China has been preparing to invade us through Mexican ports and the NAFTA superhighway, that plan has been set back but it is still a danger.
> 
> Hopefully Trump fighting back in the trade wars will prevent that but it is a very real danger.
> 
> We need to militarize the border ASAP.



The Rio Grande is the actual border, not private property, farms and businesses say 30 to 400 miles in.

But, as I have specifically detailed time and again, you know that, and have no regard for private property rights. Like the rest of the government statists on "both sides" of the isle.

And then there's the perpetual "War on Drugs", which you seem to enjoy, funding and adding more government goons. And shoot to kill "invaders" on sight without due process.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> The Rio Grande is the actual border, not private property, farms and businesses say 30 to 400 miles in.


The wall must be built where it can be built to best effect, the middle of a river is not that place.
Had I my way we would take a piece of Mexico and build it on the opposite side of the river or just militarize the border and heavily patrol it with the army but the current wall is better than nothing.




> But, as I have specifically detailed time and again, you know that, and have no regard for private property rights. Like the rest of the government statists on "both sides" of the isle.


But I do, that is why I have regard for the National Defense that secures it from foreign invaders who would destroy it completely.




> And then there's the perpetual "War on Drugs", which you seem to enjoy, funding and adding more government goons.


LOL
I always call for the end to the WoD but that would not eliminate the need for border security to preserve liberty for ourselves and our posterity.





> And shoot to kill "invaders" on sight without due process.


That's usually what happens to invaders.

----------


## Swordsmyth

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced an infrastructure  plan worth 859 billion pesos ($44 billion) that includes highways,  railways, ports and airports as well as investments in  telecommunications with most of the capital coming from the private  sector.Lopez Obrador presented the plan for the first 147  projects alongside Carlos Salazar and Antonio del Valle, heads of two of  the country’s biggest business chambers. The plan includes heavy  spending from the private sector as the government continues to cut  spending to meet fiscal targets.
The plan comes just a day after  economic data showed that the Mexican economy suffered a slight  recession in the first half of the year. Analysts forecast Mexico’s  gross domestic product to grow just 0.2% this year, the lowest since  2009 amid stagnant oil output, slumping construction and stalled  services activity.
“It’s a great initiative given that it  recognizes weakness in the investment and construction segment and  recognizes the need and important role of the private sector,” said  Gustavo Rangel, the chief Latin America economist at ING Financial  Markets in New York. “Having said that, implementation risks are still  hard to assess at this stage.”
The first stage of a later amended  version of the plan is expected to be implemented by 2020 with 431  billion pesos of outlays going largely to the tourism and transportation  sectors. The second stage, which will be completed by 2022, includes  nearly 256 billion pesos in planned spending with an additional 172  billion pesos invested by 2024.
After the initial presentation  showed a discrepancy of $7.6 billion, one of the business chambers  shared an updated presentation that showed energy projects that amount  to nearly 149 billion pesos.
“The presentation of the energy  projects was postponed,” Jesus Ramirez, the president’s spokesman, said  in response to questions about the difference.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-unveil...140127191.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

*At least 14 dead in Mexico gunbattle near Texas border*

https://www.yahoo.com/news/least-5-d...025518618.html

Mexican security forces fought an hour-long gun battle Saturday with suspected cartel gunmen in Villa Union, a town in Coahuila state about an hour’s drive southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas, leaving at least 14 people dead, officials said.

He said *the armed group stormed the town of 3,000 residents in a convoy of trucks, attacking local government offices* and prompting state and federal forces to intervene. Ten alleged members of the Cartel of the Northeast were killed in the response.

Mexico’s murder rate has increased to historically high levels, inching up by 2% in the first 10 months of the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Federal officials said recently that* there have been 29,414 homicides so far in 2019, compared to 28,869 in the same period of 2018.*

----------


## Swordsmyth

Four people were killed and two injured in a shooting on Saturday  near Mexico's National Palace, the presidential residence in the  capital's historic downtown, officials said.President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was traveling outside of Mexico City on Saturday.
Preliminary  reports indicated an armed man entered a building on a small street  near the palace looking to relieve himself, Mexico City police said.
After  two people in the building reproached him, the man withdrew a pistol  and opened fire. When police arrived, they found four people with  gunshot wounds lying in the building's courtyard, and shot at the  gunman.
Paramedics found the gunman dead, along with two other  people, the police said. One of three people who sustained injuries died  en route to the hospital.
More than 100 police officers rapidly arrived and cordoned off the street, according to television images.
The  building sits in a narrow, pedestrian-only street that opens onto an  entrance of the National Palace used daily by government staff and  reporters.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/1-four-dead-s...231951983.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's former top security chief has been indicted in New York City  on charges he accepted a fortune in drug-money bribes from kingpin  Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's notorious Sinaloa cartel to let it operate  with impunity in Mexico.Genaro Garcia Luna, 51, was charged in  federal court in Brooklyn with three counts of cocaine trafficking  conspiracy and a false statements charge.
Garcia Luna, a resident  of Florida, was arrested Monday by federal agents in Dallas, where he  made an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon. He waived his right  to a hearing to establish his identity and will remain in custody while  awaiting a bail hearing Dec. 17.


Prosecutors in Brooklyn have said they will seek Garcia Luna’s  removal to New York, where El Chapo faced trial in 2018. Jurors heard  former cartel member Jesus Zambada testify that he personally made at  least $6 million in hidden payments to Garcia Luna, on behalf of his  older brother, cartel boss Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.
The cash was delivered during two meetings at a restaurant in Mexico between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007, he said.
In  a statement announcing the charges against Garcia Luna, U.S. Attorney  Richard P. Donoghue accused the defendant of protecting the cartel  “while he controlled Mexico’s federal police force and was responsible  for ensuring public safety in Mexico."
Prosecutors said other  cooperating witnesses have confirmed that the cartel paid Garcia Luna  tens of millions of dollars to clear the way for the Sinaloa cartel to  safely ship multi-ton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the  United States.
The cartel “obtained, among other things, safe  passage for its drug shipments, sensitive law enforcement information  about investigations into the cartel and information about rival drug  cartels,” according to court papers.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexican-e...170653420.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico will not investigate former president Felipe Calderon after  one of his onetime aides was charged in the United States with accepting  bribes from a drug cartel, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said  on Wednesday.At a regular government news briefing Lopez Obrador  was asked if Mexico would probe Calderon following the arrest of  ex-security minister Genaro Garcia Luna last week, or whether he would  leave the matter in the hands of the United States.
"There won't  be an investigation because it would create the perception we're doing  it for political purposes," said Lopez Obrador, a leftist who claimed he  was robbed of the presidency in 2006 after a narrow loss to the  conservative Calderon.
The president said the office of Mexico's  attorney general would cooperate with U.S. authorities in the  investigations around Garcia Luna, who this week waived his right to a  detention hearing in a Dallas federal court.
"And if they decide  to open a case, it's a decision of that independent authority," Lopez  Obrador said, apparently referring to Calderon, who was president until  2012.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-wont-p...150305514.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico danger map updated as US warns of ‘widespread’ crime amid rise in murders, kidnappings, carjackings and robberies

----------


## Swordsmyth

*Mexico reveals webs of corruption in contracts, trafficking*

----------


## Swordsmyth

https://twitter.com/iheartmindy/stat...22205924724736

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's ruling party plunged  into a divisive leadership struggle on Monday when party chief Yeidckol  Polevnsky refused to stand down after being voted out by opponents.
> 
> More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-rulin...222141574.html


Wonder if he's talking to the Cartel's to start a coup?

----------


## Swordsmyth

> Wonder if he's talking to the Cartel's to start a coup?


It wouldn't surprise me.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> It wouldn't surprise me.


Right, I mean all it would take is some top generals and top cartel and the promise of power and money.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> Right, I mean all it would take is some top generals and top cartel and the promise of power and money.


AMLO refused to comment so I'm not sure which side he is on.
But I expect either a total collapse or a military dictatorship to happen sooner or later down there.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> AMLO refused to comment so I'm not sure which side he is on.
> But I expect either a total collapse or a military dictatorship to happen sooner or later down there.


If he does leave he could later be backed by cartels for the next election. Lets keep our eye on this.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexican-m...234705284.html

[article paragraph 1]

MEXICO CITY (AP)  A four-day pilgrimage by family members of murdered or missing Mexicans culminated in a tense confrontation in the capital's main square Sunday as supporters of Mexico's president hurled insults at the families  including dozens of Mormons with dual U.S.-citizenship.
Fervent followers of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador swarmed the Caravan for Truth, Justice and Peace as it neared the National Palace with the intention of leaving a letter for the president. Leave the country!" they yelled, accusing the victims' families of being provocateurs or having been paid off by political opponents of the president.
The hostilities underscored the difficulties of bringing peaceful solutions to a country shaken by frequent and brutal killings that often go unpunished.

[from comments section]

Nonpoliticalyesterday

Is this not the damnist thing you've heard in a while. Angry crowds of Mexicans in support of the gang violence and the crazy killings there. Would you have EVER imagined a population rallying in support of gang violence, drug wars and mass killings. Bodies hanging from bridges, headless bodies lined up along the side of highways. Bodies burning in city squares. Hijackings and murder of children. And here we are. Democrats dont see that this is the reason our border should be protected. This is the way of life in Mexico, this is how they want to live and what they see as normal. Perched from their high pedestal of nationalist pride, looking down on the US because we just cant get it together, because an entire party, the Democrats, will no matter allow this attitude, this lust for killings, to cross north and bless us with their "normal" way of life. Unbelievable.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexican-m...234705284.html
> 
> [article paragraph 1]
> 
> MEXICO CITY (AP) — A four-day pilgrimage by family members of murdered or missing Mexicans culminated in a tense confrontation in the capital's main square Sunday as supporters of Mexico's president hurled insults at the families — including dozens of Mormons with dual U.S.-citizenship.
> Fervent followers of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador swarmed the Caravan for Truth, Justice and Peace as it neared the National Palace with the intention of leaving a letter for the president. “Leave the country!" they yelled, accusing the victims' families of being provocateurs or having been paid off by political opponents of the president.
> The hostilities underscored the difficulties of bringing peaceful solutions to a country shaken by frequent and brutal killings that often go unpunished.
> 
> [from comments section]
> ...


It is unbelievable.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s economy contracted last year for the first time in a decade,  data showed on Thursday, as businesses curbed investment due to concern  over the economic management of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador,  and forecasts for 2020 are also weak. 

Adjusted for seasonal swings, Latin America’s no. 2 economy  contracted by 0.1% in 2019 after growth of just over 2% the previous  year, according to a preliminary estimate published by national  statistics office INEGI. 
“Today’s figures essentially confirmed  that Mexico was one of the world’s worst-performing large emerging  markets in 2019,” said Capital Economics in a note. “The carryover from  the weak performance in 2019 will weigh on conditions this year.” 
Gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged during the fourth quarter compared to the previous three months, INEGI said.  
That,  at least, was slightly better than the consensus forecast in a Reuters  poll for a contraction of 0.1%. A final estimate for the quarter will be  published on Feb. 25. 
Mexico’s economy struggled during the  first year in office of Lopez Obrador, a leftist who promised to root  out corruption and chronic inequality when he took office in December  2018. 
Lopez Obrador, who has pledged to deliver annual growth of  4%, shrugged off the GDP data as a yardstick from a “neoliberal” era  whose policies had benefited a select few, and said wealth was now  spread more equitably. 
“They don’t matter that much to me,  because as I say, growth may mean that there’s more money in a few  hands,” he told a regular government news conference. “It’s very  important to have better distribution of income and that the benefits  reach all.” 
Foreign investment has held firm in Mexico under his government, but domestic businesses have been more wary. 
Gross  fixed capital investment fell by 5.2% on the year during the first 10  months of 2019, according to figures published by INEGI this month. 


Lopez Obrador’s decision to cancel a partly built, $13 billion new  airport for Mexico City, and his retreat from the prior government’s  liberalization of the oil and gas industry stirred concern about his  economic stewardship. 
The president said the airport project was tainted by corruption, but its cancellation incensed business leaders.  


A breakdown of the latest GDP figures showed that weakness in manufacturing had fueled the downturn. 
Secondary  activities, which include manufacturing, slipped by 1.7% last year.  Primary activities such as farming, fishing and mining rose by 1.9%, and  tertiary activities, which capture services, meanwhile advanced 0.5%,  the data showed.    
During the July-September period, the economy  stagnated quarter-on-quarter and shrank by a tenth of a percentage  point in each of the three prior quarters, INEGI said. 

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-idUSKBN1ZT1OJ

----------


## Swordsmyth

Armed men blocked roads, burned cars and there were reports of  shootouts in the city of Uruapan in western Mexico after a senior leader  of the Los Viagras cartel was detained, local media and a source from  the prosecutor's office said.Luis Felipe, also known as "El  Vocho", was captured earlier in the day in the western state of  Michoacan, which has long been convulsed by turf wars between drug gangs  and where unrest is not uncommon after the detention of senior cartel  figures.
Michoacan's state security services, without giving names, said on Twitter that three people have been detained.
Mexican  officials will be on high alert following the chaos in Culiacan last  October, when cartel gunmen laid siege to the city and forced encircled  security forces to free the detained son of jailed kingpin Joaquin "El  Chapo" Guzman.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/firefights-bl...213308921.html

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## Swordsmyth

The raid delivered a resounding blow to Mexico City’s most fearsome  criminal group: 31 suspected gang members were arrested, two drug labs  were uncovered and a criminal bounty was seized, including 2 1/2 tons of  marijuana, 44 pounds of cocaine and an arsenal of weapons.Within  a few days, however, the case had collapsed. A judge, finding  inconsistencies in the prosecution’s files, freed nearly all of the  suspects. And a major victory for the government turned into a major  embarrassment.
The outcome was, in some ways, a reaffirmation of  Mexico’s new criminal justice system. A sweeping overhaul of the  judiciary, fully carried out in 2016, has created more transparency in  the courts, raised the standards of evidence and given judges more  authority to toss out charges because of procedural errors.
But  with this shift to stronger due process, government officials have come  to a difficult realization: An overhaul meant to strengthen the nation’s  ability to combat violence and impunity has also made it more difficult  to put people behind bars and keep them there.
And this has  become a political problem for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,  whose efforts to counter the nation’s relentless criminal groups have  largely seemed futile.
Desperate to show gains, the government is  now seeking to reengineer the justice system once again, through a broad  package of reforms intended to strengthen its hand in the fight against  crime.
Officials said they planned to submit the proposed reforms  on Feb. 1 to the legislature. But leaked drafts that have circulated in  recent days have outraged legal experts, who said they contained  changes that would unwind hard-fought due process guarantees and human  rights protections.
“It’s a complete reversal,” said María Novoa,  director of the justice program at México Evalúa, a research group that  analyzes government policies. “It’s a counter-reform.”
When  Mexico’s Congress approved the overhaul of the judicial system in 2008,  it sought to modernize an opaque, corrupt and deeply inefficient system,  increasing not only due process and accountability but the public’s  faith in the rule of law.
Unlike the previous system, in which  court procedures were largely conducted behind closed doors, with a  judge reviewing written arguments and evidence, the new system was based  on oral trials that allowed prosecutors and defense lawyers to present  their cases in open court.
The reforms created a special  due-process judge — separate from the trial judge — to ensure that a  defendant’s human rights were respected during the pretrial phase, among  many other changes. The new system also severely limited automatic  pretrial detention, which was sometimes used to imprison suspects for  years without trial, and provided more mechanisms for alternative  dispute resolutions.
The reforms were adopted according to an  eight-year timetable, requiring the retraining of police officers,  prosecutors, judges and defense lawyers; the building of new  courthouses; and the revamping of law school curriculums.
Given  the herculean nature of the effort, and the cultural shifts it demanded,  many warned that it might take years for the system to come to full  fruition — and unwavering political will to see it through.
The  transition received the robust support of the United States, which  invested more than $300 million in the project, and the new system was  officially in place in all 32 states of Mexico by the deadline of June  2016.
But since then, two continuing trends have spooked  government officials: a rise in violence and a decrease in the prison  population.
In the last publicly available prison census, from  November, there were nearly 202,000 inmates in prison, down about 14%  from when the reforms were fully implemented, according to government  statistics.
At the same time, violence has soared.
In 2019,  López Obrador’s first full year in office, Mexico recorded more than  34,500 murders, the highest annual tally since the late 1990s, when the  government started keeping such data.
And last year was marked by  several high-profile public security failures that have cost the  administration public confidence. In October, gunmen forced the  government to release the captured son of imprisoned drug trafficker  Joaquín Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo.
In early November,  three women and six of their children, all dual citizens of the U.S.  and Mexico, were murdered in northern Mexico by suspected members of a  criminal group.
The administration was further embarrassed by the  sudden collapse of the case against the Unión Tepito, the Mexico City  criminal group that was the target of the raid. It was another example  of what many legal experts say is the continuing struggle of prosecutors  and the police to present cases that can stand up in the new criminal  justice system.
López Obrador and other elected officials could  barely contain their frustration with the judge’s decision in the case,  handed down in October.
“With total respect for judicial power and  its autonomy, the judge’s decision seems unfortunate to me,” Claudia  Sheinbaum, the mayor of Mexico City, told reporters. “I think the judges  should analyze the cases in an integral way, weigh the collective  interest and review all the evidence.”
When asked about the  matter, López Obrador acknowledged that some public officials still  needed additional training in the new judicial standards. When  prosecutorial files are flawed, he said, “Judges can say: ‘It is poorly  compiled, there is insufficient evidence, there are contradictions.’  And: freedom.”
But he also raised the specter of corruption,  saying that a long-standing practice among dishonest judges has been to  use the errors in case files as “an excuse” to release defendants.
Some  public officials have even tried to draw a direct link between the drop  in the prison population and the rise in violence. They have  specifically blamed the new justice system for allowing the accused to  more easily walk free and return to a life of crime — a phenomenon some  refer to as “the revolving door.”
Among those vowing to close that  door is Alejandro Gertz Manero, Mexico’s attorney general and a lead  author of the new set of reforms.
“They came in one way and went  out the other, the number of criminals multiplied, some prisons reduced  their population but multiplied their damage to society,” he said at a  committee meeting in the Mexican Senate this month. “The system, instead  of improving, got more complicated.”
The leaked drafts of the  initiatives include measures that would significantly expand the use of  pretrial detention, eliminate the due-process judge and eliminate rules  that automatically prohibit the use of evidence obtained illegally,  legal experts said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/violence-soar...201223813.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> The raid delivered a resounding blow to Mexico City’s most fearsome  criminal group: 31 suspected gang members were arrested, two drug labs  were uncovered and a criminal bounty was seized, including 2 1/2 tons of  marijuana, 44 pounds of cocaine and an arsenal of weapons.Within  a few days, however, the case had collapsed. A judge, finding  inconsistencies in the prosecution’s files, freed nearly all of the  suspects. And a major victory for the government turned into a major  embarrassment.
> The outcome was, in some ways, a reaffirmation of  Mexico’s new criminal justice system. A sweeping overhaul of the  judiciary, fully carried out in 2016, has created more transparency in  the courts, raised the standards of evidence and given judges more  authority to toss out charges because of procedural errors.
> But  with this shift to stronger due process, government officials have come  to a difficult realization: An overhaul meant to strengthen the nation’s  ability to combat violence and impunity has also made it more difficult  to put people behind bars and keep them there.
> And this has  become a political problem for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,  whose efforts to counter the nation’s relentless criminal groups have  largely seemed futile.
> Desperate to show gains, the government is  now seeking to reengineer the justice system once again, through a broad  package of reforms intended to strengthen its hand in the fight against  crime.
> Officials said they planned to submit the proposed reforms  on Feb. 1 to the legislature. But leaked drafts that have circulated in  recent days have outraged legal experts, who said they contained  changes that would unwind hard-fought due process guarantees and human  rights protections.
> “It’s a complete reversal,” said María Novoa,  director of the justice program at México Evalúa, a research group that  analyzes government policies. “It’s a counter-reform.”
> When  Mexico’s Congress approved the overhaul of the judicial system in 2008,  it sought to modernize an opaque, corrupt and deeply inefficient system,  increasing not only due process and accountability but the public’s  faith in the rule of law.
> Unlike the previous system, in which  court procedures were largely conducted behind closed doors, with a  judge reviewing written arguments and evidence, the new system was based  on oral trials that allowed prosecutors and defense lawyers to present  their cases in open court.
> ...


You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Swordsmyth again.

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## Pauls' Revere

Where do the loyalties lie with the military leaders? That is a crucial question cause they will have the force to overthrow or defend the side that pays the most.

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## Swordsmyth

> Where do the loyalties lie with the military leaders? That is a crucial question cause they will have the force to overthrow or defend the side that pays the most.


And how much have the cartels infiltrated the military in the middle levels of the officer corps/Noncoms.

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## Pauls' Revere

> And how much have the cartels infiltrated the military in the middle levels of the officer corps/Noncoms.


Oh yeah, good point. Blackmail etc...

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## Swordsmyth

A dispute over water payments to the United States widened in Mexico  Wednesday, after President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexico has  to pay its debts but angry farmers pushed back National Guard troops  guarding a dam.

Video at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexican-f...232227603.html

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## Pauls' Revere

https://www.thehour.com/news/article...m-85307-tbla-9

Then, in November, as violence surged in the mountains of Guerrero state, the men of Ayahualtempa decided it was time for their sons to take up arms.
Alex was handed a hunting rifle and told to show up for daily training on the village basketball court. He and his young comrades, some as young as 6, marched and crawled with loaded guns almost as tall as they were. Their uniforms said "Community Police" in yellow letters.


When the photographers started coming, the boys were told to cover their faces with handkerchiefs. Arming children to defend the town against a violent gang wasn't a media stunt, Alex's commanders insisted. Yet if the images drew the government's attention to a place Mexico's security forces had forgotten, it would be a triumph of its own.
But were the boys training to defend their village, or were they being paraded in front of visiting photographers to send a message to the government, a plea for more resources? Sometimes even Alex wasn't sure. What he knew was that the gun was heavy and loaded, and the training felt real enough to him.



Back in the day all it took was "The Magnificent Seven"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG-ZxrG7htU

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## Pauls' Revere

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN20N07X

*U.S. shuts border bridge to stop migrants rushing across from Mexico*

CIUDAD JUAREZ/EL PASO (Reuters) - U.S. authorities said they closed the busy Ciudad Juarez-El Paso border bridge on Friday after more than a hundred mostly Cuban migrants tried to cross in response to a court ruling suspending an asylum policy.

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## Swordsmyth

*“The government is corrupt, because the wrong people are in  charge. Once López Obrador wins the presidency, everything will be  different. The state will give us great education and healthcare  services, for free! The rich will pay their taxes and poor people will  get the welfare programs they need to escape poverty.”*

That’s  what one of my friends told me, with an almost religious level of  devotion, and she wasn’t the only one. A couple of years ago left-winger  Andrés Manuel López Obrador managed to imprint this utopia in the minds  of his followers. He was so successful that he won the 2018  presidential elections by a landslide, collecting 53 percent of the vote  (the largest margin since 1982), and propelled his political alliance  to a comfortable majority in both chambers of the Congress of the Union  and most of the state legislatures. This was remarkable considering that  most of the candidates of his party were perfect nobodies who won  specifically because of Obrador’s endorsement.
At the core of his  movement, there was the fantasy of a perfect government, one led by  honest and “patriotic” people, that would end corruption, multiply  welfare programs, and correct the injustices of “neoliberalism.” During  his campaign, Obrador would go on TV shows and promise that from the  first day of his government criminals would change their ways and become  honest people. He would answer every question about the problems of the  country with a one-size-fits-all solution: fight government corruption  and give out more welfare.
And the people ate it up. More than 30 million citizens  voted for López Obrador in 2018, and surprisingly he even had  above-average support from the rich and the college educated. Why? 
The reason is far more worrisome than it seems. In Mexico, the  fantasy of a perfect government is deeply ingrained in the minds of the  majority of the people: whether they’re conservatives or liberals, they  long for an all-good and all-powerful leader who will erase the problems  and bring justice to the land. So, every time state intervention proves  to be a disaster, people take refuge in the idea that the problem was  that the “wrong people” had the power. “But once OUR guy is in charge,”  they say, “everything will be different.” 
All López Obrador did was take this fantasy, perfect it, and turn  it into the language of a well-oiled electoral machine: he built an  alliance with old politicians of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary  Party/Partido Revolucionario Institucional), evangelical leaders,  unions, singers, and intellectuals. Then he rode to a resounding  victory. So, next exit: utopia, right? 
There’s one teensy, weensy, but ever-so-crucial little detail:  fantasies, like those cruel mirages that haunt the lost travelers in the  middle of the desert, evaporate as soon as you reach out your hand and  try to touch them. And they turn into dust. 
So far, López Obrador’s administration has been sixteen months of  the slow-motion vanishing of that fantasy. He promised that Mexico’s  economy would grow by 4 percent in 2019. Instead, it fell 0.1 percent  despite becoming the United States’s the biggest trade partner.  He promised to fight crime “with hugs, not with bullets,” but 2019 was  the most violent year in Mexico’s modern history, with 34,582 murders.  He promised to rescue Pemex (Mexican Petroleum/Petróleos Mexicanos), but  the state-owned oil company doubled its losses in 2019 and is closer  than ever to bankruptcy. He promised free medical attention, but public  hospitals have experienced chronic drug shortages for diseases such as  cancer and HIV. He promised to sell the presidential airplane, but now  he will raffle it in a lottery with money prizes, having found out that  he can’t give it away because the Mexican government acquired it on a  leasing contract with Banobras (National Bank of Public Works and  Services/Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Públicos). 
As the weeks pass by, the incompetence becomes ever more evident,  and hope turns into disappointment. A host of polls published in the  early days of march show the same picture: Obrador’s popularity is  bleeding. He has lost around 20 percentage points and all but his most  ardent supporters begin to question his actions in the presidency.  Meanwhile, he’s pushing at full speed a political agenda designed to  give more power to the office of the president and build welfare  networks to mobilize his voters and keep the legislative majority in the  upcoming midterm elections of 2021. This is the bad news. 

The worse news is that even most of those who have turned against  Obrador keep clinging to the fantasy of the perfect government. You  hear it over and over in the opposition gatherings: “Just wait until OUR  guy is in charge, he will change things for good.” So there’s a real  risk that if Obrador’s party collapses a more interventionist leader  will pick up the pieces and begin the cycle all over again, as has been  happening since colonial days. 

More at: https://www.infowars.com/mexicos-lef...be-a-disaster/

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## Pauls' Revere

One day, cartels are eventually going to gain enough support of the general population that I fear that the Mexican government will one day be overthrown.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-ca...181011859.html

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said such handouts have occurred “in several places,” but said the government can’t stop the practice.

“It is something that happens, it cannot be avoided," López Obrador said.

“I don't want to hear them saying, ‘we are handing out aid packages,’” he said. “No, better that they lay off, and think of their families, and themselves, those that are involved in these activities and who are listening to me now or watching me.”

Videos posted on social media have shown one of the daughters of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman handing out boxes of rice, pasta, cooking oil and toilet paper with Guzman’s image printed on them.

In the past, drug cartels have tried to gain the sympathy of local populations with handouts.

For example, López Obrador noted, fuel theft gangs that drilled taps into pipelines would often leave small amounts of gasoline and diesel for local farmers, to gain their support.

And in northern Mexico, the Gulf cartel and the Northeast cartel have reportedly handed out aid.

López Obrador has sought to avoid open confrontation with drug cartels, opting instead for long-term solutions like job creation, scholarships and job training to reduce the number of recruits available to the cartels.

On Monday, he adopted a similar tone.

“I don't rule out that there are people in the gangs who are becoming conscious, because I don't think you can spend your life always watching your back, worrying about another gang, going from one place to another, because you could get eliminated, that is no life at all,” said López Obrador.

Mexico has registered 8,772 coronavirus cases and 712 deaths.

Mexican authorities said Monday they have dispatched a total of 4,700 National Guard troops to provide security outside government hospitals.

Hospitals and medical staff have been subjected to abuse and occasional attacks either from residents fearing contagion or relatives of patients upset about their care. Some report having been insulted, having liquids tossed at them or being denied service. Residents who don't want coronavirus patients in their neighborhoods have threatened to burn hospitals.

Fabiana Zepeda, the head of nursing for the Mexican Social Security Institute, said fellow nurses have suffered 21 attacks or instances of abuse since the pandemic began.

Zepeda's voice broke as she described how nurses have been told not to wear their uniforms on the street to avoid being the target of abuse or discrimination. Many fear that people in medical uniforms may spread the virus.

“These attacks have hit my profession hard,” Zepeda said. “We are giving our lives in the hospitals.”

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...months-of-2020

MEXICO CITY (REUTERS) - Homicides in Mexico hit record levels in the first four months of 2020, climbing by 2.4% from the same period last year, official data showed on Wednesday, dealing a setback to the government's efforts to restore order.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged to bring down gang-fueled violence afflicting Mexico when he took office in December 2018, but homicides hit a record level in 2019 and have continued to climb even during the coronavirus lockdown.

*In the first four months of this year, 11,535 murders were registered, up from 11,266 homicide in same period last year,* preliminary data from the security ministry showed. Just over 34,600 murders were logged in Mexico in all of last year.

Mexico in late March began imposing restrictions to curb the coronavirus outbreak, a development that some analysts hoped might lead to a reduction in criminal violence.

But nearly 6,000 murders were registered between March and April, one of the worst two-month periods on record.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s government targeted nearly 2,000 bank accounts linked to one of the nation’s most violent cartels, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).

Known as “Blue Agave,” the operation sought to freeze 1,939 bank accounts by Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), a news release revealed. Over several months, the UIF, led by Santiago Nieto, went through thousands of unusual transactions and identified 1,770 individuals, 167 companies, and two trust funds all linked to the CJNG.

The CJNG is considered one of Mexico’s most violent and is linked to the use of improvised explosive devices and hiring Colombian terrorists. Under the leadership of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, the CJNG’s turf wars throughout the country are leading to a dramatic spike in violence.

Authorities analyzed thousands of transactions and transfers to identify the individuals behind the funneling of suspected cartel funds. It remains unclear how much was seized.

More at: https://www.breitbart.com/border/202...bank-accounts/

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> Mexico’s government targeted nearly 2,000 bank accounts linked to one of the nation’s most violent cartels, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).
> 
> Known as “Blue Agave,” the operation sought to freeze 1,939 bank accounts by Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), a news release revealed. Over several months, the UIF, led by Santiago Nieto, went through thousands of unusual transactions and identified 1,770 individuals, 167 companies, and two trust funds all linked to the CJNG.
> 
> The CJNG is considered one of Mexico’s most violent and is linked to the use of improvised explosive devices and hiring Colombian terrorists. Under the leadership of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, the CJNG’s turf wars throughout the country are leading to a dramatic spike in violence.
> 
> Authorities analyzed thousands of transactions and transfers to identify the individuals behind the funneling of suspected cartel funds. It remains unclear how much was seized.
> 
> More at: https://www.breitbart.com/border/202...bank-accounts/


You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Swordsmyth again.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that  those responsible for the murders of a federal judge and his wife in the  western state of Colima will be punished, and a senior official said  the judge was apparently killed because of his work.López Obrador  said there will not be impunity for the killings of District Court  Judge Uriel Villegas Ortiz and his wife, Verónica Barajas. He spoke  during an appearance in the central state of Puebla.
Interior  Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero said that she knew Villegas personally  and that his murder was particularly difficult for her.
“He died  for doing his job and he was doing it well,” she said. She noted that  some of his cases involved organized crime figures.
A federal  official confirmed that Villegas had been handling cases involving drug  cartels. The dominant cartel in Colima is the Jalisco New Generation  Cartel.
Villegas had handled some appeals filed by Ruben Oseguera,  alias “El Menchito,” the son of Jalisco cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera,  who wanted to be returned to a prison in Jalisco state. However, the  official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Villegas had  not ruled against the younger Oseguera.
“El Menchito” was  arrested in 2015 and spent several years filing legal appeals, fighting  his extradition to the United States. He was finally extradited in  February, and has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to  distribute large quantities of cocaine and meth, and use of a firearm in  commission of a drug trafficking offense.
While it is unclear  whether the Oseguera case could have been a motive in the killing, the  cartel is known for hyperviolent tactics and its willingness to directly  attack police, soldiers and marines.
Killings of federal judges  are rare in Mexico, but the Pacific coast state of Colima has Mexico’s  highest homicide rate. In part that is because drug cartels value, and  fight over, the seaport of Manzanillo, which they use as a hb for  trafficking drugs and precursor chemicals.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-presid...143421951.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that  those responsible for the murders of a federal judge and his wife in the  western state of Colima will be punished, and a senior official said  the judge was apparently killed because of his work.López Obrador  said there will not be impunity for the killings of District Court  Judge Uriel Villegas Ortiz and his wife, Verónica Barajas. He spoke  during an appearance in the central state of Puebla.
> Interior  Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero said that she knew Villegas personally  and that his murder was particularly difficult for her.
> “He died  for doing his job and he was doing it well,” she said. She noted that  some of his cases involved organized crime figures.
> A federal  official confirmed that Villegas had been handling cases involving drug  cartels. The dominant cartel in Colima is the Jalisco New Generation  Cartel.
> Villegas had handled some appeals filed by Ruben Oseguera,  alias “El Menchito,” the son of Jalisco cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera,  who wanted to be returned to a prison in Jalisco state. However, the  official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Villegas had  not ruled against the younger Oseguera.
> “El Menchito” was  arrested in 2015 and spent several years filing legal appeals, fighting  his extradition to the United States. He was finally extradited in  February, and has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to  distribute large quantities of cocaine and meth, and use of a firearm in  commission of a drug trafficking offense.
> While it is unclear  whether the Oseguera case could have been a motive in the killing, the  cartel is known for hyperviolent tactics and its willingness to directly  attack police, soldiers and marines.
> Killings of federal judges  are rare in Mexico, but the Pacific coast state of Colima has Mexico’s  highest homicide rate. In part that is because drug cartels value, and  fight over, the seaport of Manzanillo, which they use as a hb for  trafficking drugs and precursor chemicals.
> 
> More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-presid...143421951.html


Signal to other judges that they better be careful how they interpret the law.

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## Pauls' Revere

> Signal to other judges that they better be careful how they interpret the law.


This voting harder than usual.

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## Pauls' Revere

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-idUSKBN23X23K

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch blamed the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) for attempting to assassinate him early on Friday when he was shot and injured in an attack in a wealthy part of the capital.

“This morning we suffered a cowardly attack by the CJNG, two colleagues and friends of mine lost their lives,” Garcia said in a post on Twitter.

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## Swordsmyth

*Mexican prosecutors seek arrests of 46 officials in student disappearance probe*https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-prose...192500402.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53341768

César Duarte, a former Mexican state governor who became a fugitive, has been arrested in Miami after more than three years on the run.

Mr Duarte, governor of Chihuahua until 2016, fled after he was accused of embezzling public funds.

He now faces extradition to Mexico, where he faces corruption charges.

The arrest came as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador paid an official visit to the US for talks with President Trump.

Mr López Obrador came to power pledging to tackle political corruption.

Mr Duarte was governor of Chihuahua from October 2010 to October 2016.

He was known for his lavish lifestyle and is accused of having used an official helicopter to fly friends and family to his ranch on weekends.

He is also alleged to have stolen hundreds of cows imported by the state to help small-scale Mexican ranchers replace their herds after a devastating drought.

The animals and many of his properties have been seized since Mr Duarte fled the country.

There had been reported sightings of him in Texas, New Mexico and Florida in recent years.

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## Pauls' Revere

How much longer before Mexico has a coup?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexican-c...032510915.html

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A video depicting a sprawling military-style convoy of one of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels circulated on social networks on Friday just as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited the group's heartland.

In the two-minute clip, members of the fearsome Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) stand in fatigues alongside a seemingly endless procession of armored vehicles.

"Only Mencho's people," members of the cartel shout, pumping their fists and flashing their long guns. The cry was a salute to their leader, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, one of the country's most-wanted drug lords.

The video's release coincided with Lopez Obrador's visit to the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco and Colima, some of the cartel's strongholds.

"They are sending a clear message... that they basically rule Mexico, not Lopez Obrador," said Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

A spokesman for Lopez Obrador's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was unclear when the video had been filmed, but it appeared to be authentic, Vigil said.

CJNG is regarded as Mexico’s strongest gang, along with the Sinaloa Cartel formerly led by jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. It is often credited with infiltrating poorly paid and trained police departments across the country to protect its wide-ranging criminal rackets.

In late June, the cartel was quickly fingered as the probable culprit in a brazen attack on Mexico City security head Omar Garcia Harfuch that took place in broad daylight in a posh neighborhood in the capital.

Unlike his predecessors, Lopez Obrador has taken a less confrontational approach on security, preferring to attack what he describes as root causes like poverty and youth joblessness, via social spending.

But the strategy, branded by Lopez Obrador as one of "hugs, not bullets," has emboldened criminal groups, many security analysts say.

*The president's approach "has only led these cartels to operate with more impunity," Vigil said.*

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s president said Friday he is putting the army in charge of  customs at border crossings and seaports to combat corruption and the  massive smuggling of drugs and precursor chemicals.President  Andrés Manuel López Obrador made the announcement during a visit to the  Pacific coast port of Manzanillo, where some of the biggest multi-ton  shipments of drug and illicit chemicals have been seized over the last  decade.
It was the latest in a series of new roles that López  Obrador has entrusted to the nation’s armed forces, which are now  involved in everything from construction of government projects to  running tree nurseries.
The president said the trafficking through  the port accounted for a lot of the violence in the state of Colima,  where Manzanillo is located. Colima has the highest per-capita homicide  rate in Mexico, in part because drug cartels are believed to be fighting  for control of ports and shipments coming through them.
“We have  taken this decision about management of the port, because of the  mismanagement, the poor administration of the seaports, the corruption,  the smuggling of drugs into the country through these ports,” López  Obrador said. “This explains to a large extent why there are attacks and  homicides in Colima.”
The army and the National Guard, which is  mainly staffed with army members, are guarding hospitals and  transporting medical supplies for the pandemic, have been given an  extended mandate to perform civilian policing roles and are running  bulldozers to build a new airport outside Mexico City.
The army is  also building thousands of new branch offices for a government-run  bank. The Navy has been given control of all port captaincies and is in  charge of removing sargasso seaweed choking some beaches at resorts on  the Caribbean coast.
Most shipments of the synthetic opioid  fentanyl, and precursor chemicals used to make it, are believed to come  from Asia through Pacific coast ports like Manzanillo or Lazaro  Cardenas, to the south. Cartels use the same route to import chemicals  used to make methamphetamines, often on an industrial scale.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-puts-m...152132986.html

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## Pauls' Revere

https://www.bing.com/search?q=El+Mar...=1&form=HPNN01

Videos show the pre-dawn capture by federal and state authorities of José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, who is known by the alias "El Marro," which means "the Sledgehammer." He was detained along with five others in a raid that authorities said also freed a kidnapped businesswoman.

The capture of Yépez Ortiz, one of the most high-profile arrests by the Mexican government in years, highlights the contradictory nature of the security policies pushed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has vowed to fight crime by eradicating poverty and break with the militarized strategies of his predecessors but who in practice has not always done so.

It also casts a focus on the changing nature of *Mexico's criminal organizations, which have branched out far beyond transnational drug trafficking and are now engaged in cargo robbery, domestic drug sales and control of industries as diverse as gold mining and the avocado trade.*

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation...lence-avocados

URUAPAN, Mexico —  The cartel members showed up in this verdant stretch of western Mexico armed with automatic weapons and chainsaws.
Soon they were cutting timber day and night, the crash of falling trees echoing throughout the virgin forest. When locals protested, explaining that the area was protected from logging, they were held at gunpoint and ordered to keep quiet.

Stealing wood was just a prelude to a more ambitious plan.

The newcomers, members of a criminal group called the Viagras, were almost certainly clearing the forest to set up a grow operation. They wouldn’t be planting marijuana or other crops long favored by Mexican cartels, but something potentially even more profitable: avocados.

Mexico’s multibillion-dollar avocado industry, headquartered in Michoacan state, has become a prime target for cartels, which have been seizing farms and clearing protected woodlands to plant their own groves of what locals call “green gold.”

More than a dozen criminal groups are battling for control of the avocado trade in and around the city of Uruapan, preying on wealthy orchard owners, the laborers who pick the fruit and the drivers who truck it north to the United States.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> https://www.bing.com/search?q=El+Mar...=1&form=HPNN01
> 
> Videos show the pre-dawn capture by federal and state authorities of José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, who is known by the alias "El Marro," which means "the Sledgehammer." He was detained along with five others in a raid that authorities said also freed a kidnapped businesswoman.
> 
> The capture of Yépez Ortiz, one of the most high-profile arrests by the Mexican government in years, highlights the contradictory nature of the security policies pushed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has vowed to fight crime by eradicating poverty and break with the militarized strategies of his predecessors but who in practice has not always done so.
> 
> It also casts a focus on the changing nature of *Mexico's criminal organizations, which have branched out far beyond transnational drug trafficking and are now engaged in cargo robbery, domestic drug sales and control of industries as diverse as gold mining and the avocado trade.*
> 
> https://www.latimes.com/world-nation...lence-avocados
> ...


"This is a tremendously successful blow for the government," said  Raul Benitez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of  Mexico (UNAM).
Yepez, boss of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, a  Guanajuato-based gang, has been engaged in a bloody struggle for  criminal control of the state with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel  (CJNG), one of the country's most powerful and violent groups.


The Guanajuato attorney general's office said security forces  captured Yepez with five other people and rescued a kidnapped local  businesswoman during the operation. An "arsenal" of weapons was also  secured during the raid.
Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said  Yepez would be taken to the Altiplano penitentiary, a maximum-security  prison where drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was housed before he escaped through a tunnel in 2015. Guzman was recaptured in 2016.
A  hub of the carmaking industry, Guanajuato was once one of the safer  regions of Mexico, but the violence of the past few years has pushed  national homicide tallies to record levels.
Writing on Twitter, Durazo said Yepez had been arrested for suspected organized crime and fuel theft.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-army-...153102762.html

----------


## Swordsmyth

A Mexican judge has issued warrants for the arrest of 19 former  federal police officials under the last government, including a former  chief of police for the capital, for alleged organized crime and money  laundering, officials said on Tuesday.According to three  officials, former Mexico City police chief Jesús Orta and 18 others are  suspected of embezzling millions of dollars during their time in the  federal police under the 2012-2018 presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.
Speaking  on condition of anonymity, one official said the suspects were wanted  for creating a criminal network of more than three people, defined as  organized crime.
President  Andrés Manuel López Obrador told a news conference that the arrest  orders were the result of an investigation into the accounts of the  previous Interior Ministry, which then controlled the federal police. He  did not provide details.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-judge...144859864.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> A Mexican judge has issued warrants for the arrest of 19 former  federal police officials under the last government, including a former  chief of police for the capital, for alleged organized crime and money  laundering, officials said on Tuesday.According to three  officials, former Mexico City police chief Jesús Orta and 18 others are  suspected of embezzling millions of dollars during their time in the  federal police under the 2012-2018 presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.
> Speaking  on condition of anonymity, one official said the suspects were wanted  for creating a criminal network of more than three people, defined as  organized crime.
> President  Andrés Manuel López Obrador told a news conference that the arrest  orders were the result of an investigation into the accounts of the  previous Interior Ministry, which then controlled the federal police. He  did not provide details.
> 
> More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-judge...144859864.html


I'm surprised they were'nt lined up and shot.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> I'm surprised they were'nt lined up and shot.


That will start happening sooner or later.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> That will start happening sooner or later.


Cartels won't like so much so AMLO better get the military straightened out first to prevent a coup.

----------


## Swordsmyth

The Mexican government has forced the resignation or sidelined more  than 1,000 immigration officials over allegations of corruption and  other irregularities, a senior official said on Friday.As part of  an administrative modernization plan, the National Migration Institute  (INM) installed video surveillance systems at its offices that have  since detected irregularities that ranged from immigration officials  extorting migrants, to workers sleeping on the job.
INM chief  Francisco Garduno said "more than 1,040 INM public servants have had to  resign or have been subject to an internal review. The majority have  resigned because we have a video camera system at all our stations."
The videos show alleged acts of extortion and corruption, he said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-gover...002414138.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

*Drug Cartel Now Assassinates Its Enemies With Bomb-Toting Drones*

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...-toting-drones

Mexico's drug cartels are notoriously well armed and equipped, with some possessing very heavy weaponry, including armored gun trucks sporting heavy machine guns. Now at least one of these groups appears to be increasingly making use of small quadcopter-type drones carrying small explosive devices to attack its enemies. This is just the latest example of a trend that has been growing worldwide in recent years, including among non-state actors, such as terrorists and criminals, which underscores the potential threats commercially-available unmanned systems pose on and off the battlefield.

A civilian self-defense militia in the city of Tepalcatepec, in Mexico's southwestern Michoacan state, reportedly recovered two dozen explosive-laden quadcopters from a car that a team of sicarios – cartel hitmen – had apparently abandoned, possibly after a failed or aborted hit, on July 25, 2020. The bombs attached to the drones consisted of Tupperware-like containers filled with C4 charges and ball bearings to act as shrapnel.

----------


## Swordsmyth

A new conflict is starting in Mexico. A series of armed attacks that took place on August 14, 15 and 16 in a border area between two municipalities in Los Altos de Chiapas, caused the forced displacement of more than 1,600 people, according to data from the Human Rights Center Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Frayba). A delegation from the Federal Government has already traveled to the capital of Chiapas with the aim of promoting a peaceful solution to this territorial conflict.

Pedro Faro, director of Frayba, informed various media outlets that 56 episodes of armed attacks against the indigenous civilian population were reported only between 14 and 16 August. In fact, violence has grown steadily. Although the origin of the problem in Los Alos is a territorial dispute between two municipalities that have suffered an administrative division recently, the presence of well-equipped armed groups has started to increase in the last four years, mainly from 2018, which has been worrying more and more humanitarian organizations concerned with the security of the Mexican people. In the past two years, more than 500 violent armed attacks have been reported in the region against at least 13 traditional Mexican indigenous communities, averaging about three attacks a week.

Despite many suspicions raised recently, there are no major economic interests in the region. The main income-generating activities in the Los Altos are handicrafts and agriculture, which come exclusively from the rural zone. Currently, the conflict has led to a major economic crisis, as families affected by the disputes can no longer plant and harvest products for their own consumption.

In fact, the conflict in Chiapas did not start now, but decades ago. For at least thirty years, the region has suffered with the strong growth of paramilitary militias, which have almost taken control of Chiapas. As a result of paramilitarism, the presence of regular forces from the Mexican state has also grown, with Chiapas being one of the most militarized places in Mexico. This has led to a series of serious human rights violations, forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and forced displacements that have remained in complete impunity so far, as the State has not dismantled armed groups in the region or investigated its own institutions for possible crimes.

In response to the constant attacks by armed paramilitary groups, the indigenous people began to form their own self-defense forces. The performance of the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) has also increased, which in recent months has advanced throughout the region. The EZLN has increased its activities mainly in reaction to several economic projects in southern Mexico, where multinational companies and the federal government work together disrespecting the choices of local indigenous communities – which is not the case of Chiapas, where the conflict is due to territorial disputes between indigenous people and residents of Santa Maria, in Chenalló, who claim land in areas inhabited by indigenous communities.

The main problem, however, is that the inefficiency of the state security forces to contain the problem generate an increase in violence, with the emergence of new paramilitary militias with parallel interests and the creation of a scenario of cyclical violence that weakens the national security, resulting in negative effects on the Mexican image abroad.

Mexico currently has about 500 internal territorial conflicts, almost all of which are involved in ethnic rivalries and extremely politicized, involving Marxist militias, anarchists, nationalists, among others. In short, the country is in a constant state of pre-civil war and no government has been strong enough to pacify the entire national territory. Currently, local militias have taken a leading role in the political life of Mexican communities in relation to the federal government, resulting in several parallel governments. Abroad, the Mexican image is extremely damaged because of this: economic projects fail, investments decrease, and the Mexican political-economic crisis is perpetuated.

What is being threatened by the growth of ethnic and territorial conflicts in Mexico is not only the lives of thousands of Mexican citizens, but also the very existence of Mexico as a National State. With such internal conflicts, the State is weakened, and its structures are deeply shaken. Mexico may even be able to undertake successful economic projects, despite adverse conditions, but it will not, for example, be able to have a significant international military projection since its forces are constantly attentive to so many internal conflicts – and are absolutely unable to contain such conflicts.

More at: https://theduran.com/mexico-on-the-brink-of-civil-war/

----------


## Swordsmyth

Mexico's top security official announced Thursday what many Mexicans had suspected: the Jalisco drug cartel had long controlled the infamous “Puente Grande” federal prison where convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán staged his first escape in 2001.

The prison had become known for such lax standards that it earned the nickname “Puerta Grande,” or “Big Door.”

Public Safety Secretary Alfonso Durazo said “it was a myth that it was a high-security prison.” The penitentiary in the western state of Jalisco was actually ruled by the cartel of the same name, which is often known by the initials “CJNG.”

“For inmates who belonged to the CJNG, being at the Puente Grande prison meant having all the conditions to continue ruling themselves, and part of the goal is precisely to disperse these criminals among other prisons to eliminate the possibility of them repeating their self-rule.”

On Monday, the federal Public Safety Department, which Durazo leads, announced it was closing the prison but did not give a specific reason, other than saying it was part of a modernization effort to ensure prisoners’ rights and rehabilitation, and a government cost-cutting campaign.

The department said Monday all inmates currently at the prison will be transferred to other facilities. The complex, near the western city of Guadalajara, also houses at least one other state prison; it was not clear if that would remain open.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/official-mexi...210041089.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...?ocid=msedgntp

*Gunmen ambushed and killed 6 Mexican cops and left two civilians dead in an attack in El Mezquital, Mexico, on Thursday.*

*Another seven Mexican officers were wounded in the bloody attack*. Officials said an investigation was launched.

The police were intercepted by armed attackers in a turn in a turn in a road near the town of San Antonio de Padua, according to Reforma, a Mexican newspaper.

State prosecutor Ruth Medina said that vehicles abandoned by the assailants were marked with blood, suggesting that some of the gunmen may have been wounded.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Former Mexican defense secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, who led the country’s army for six years under ex-President Enrique Peña Nieto, has been arrested on drug trafficking and money laundering charges at Los Angeles International Airport, U.S. and Mexican sources said Thursday.

Two people with knowledge of the arrest said Cienfuegos was taken into custody on a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warrant. One of the people said the warrant was for drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

The DEA declined to comment Thursday night.

Mexico's Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, wrote on his Twitter account that U.S. Ambassador Christopher Landau had informed him of the retired general’s arrest and that Cienfuegos had a right to receive consular assistance.

A senior Mexican official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to give details of the case, said Cienfuegos was arrested when he arrived at the Los Angeles airport with his family. His family members were released and he was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Cienfuegos served from 2012 to 2018 as secretary of defense under Peña Nieto. He is the highest-ranking former Cabinet official arrested since the top Mexican security official Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested in Texas in 2019. Garcia Luna, who served under former President Felipe Calderón, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexicos-ex-de...022608785.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...?ocid=msedgdhp

Arrest of general shatters trust in Mexican military

*General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda arrested.*

The man in charge of the Mexican armed forces between 2012 and 2018 was arrested Thursday upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport. According to federal prosecutors, the 72-year-old faces drug and money laundering charges.

Cienfuegos Zepeda, who served 54 years in the Mexican armed forces, is accused of taking bribes in exchange for allowing a Mexican drug cartel, known for gruesome acts of violence, to operate with impunity in Mexico.

Now what?
The arrest of general Cienfuegos Zepeda has shaken not only the armed forces but also the trust Mexicans have had in the military for generations.

A 2017 survey conducted by Parametría, a Mexican polling firm, concluded that six in 10 Mexicans agreed the military should continue doing security work on the streets. The survey also showed the armed forces were among the most trusted institutions in the country, a finding that had remained favorable for the military for the preceding 15 years.

Local and federal police forces lost the trust of the Mexican people a long time ago. After all, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, aka "The Godfather," leader of the Guadalajara Cartel at its height in the 1980s and blamed for the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in 1985, started his career as a federal police agent.

For two decades, presidents have entrusted anti-narcotics enforcement to the military -- from right-wing Vicente Fox in the early 2000s, to his successor, Felipe Calderón, who declared a war on drug cartels at the beginning of his presidency in 2006, to the Enrique Peña Nieto and the current president, leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

"The sole detention of general Cienfuegos has already had a strong impact in the media," Celaya Gamboa told CNN. "It affects the army's credibility as a whole and it also affects the credibility of the Mexican government. It reinforces the image many have abroad of Mexico as a country of drug traffickers."

"He [Cienfuegos Zepeda] is being linked with the Beltrán-Leyva criminal organization, which dominated [the Mexican state of] Guerrero, trafficking cocaine, heroin and marijuana to the New York region when he was an officer in Mexico's Ninth Military Region," Esquivel said. "That's why the case's jurisdiction will fall upon the Brooklyn federal court."

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...?ocid=msedgntp

*U.S. drops drug-trafficking charges against ex–Mexican general following diplomatic backlash
Associated Press  3 hrs ago*

NEW YORK — U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday formally dropped a drug trafficking and money laundering case against a former Mexican defense secretary, a decision that came after Mexico threatened to cut off cooperation with U.S. authorities unless the general was sent home.

A judge in New York City approved the dismissal of charges, capping a lightning-fast turnaround in the case of former Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, who was arrested just weeks ago in Los Angeles, but will be returned to Mexico under an unusual diplomatic deal between the two countries.

The decision to drop the case was an embarrassment for the United States, which had touted the arrest as a major breakthrough when Cienfuegos was taken into custody Oct. 15. But the arrest drew a loud protest from top officials in Mexico and threatened to damage the delicate relationship that enables investigators in both countries to pursue drug kingpins together.

*“The United States determined that the broader interest in maintaining that relationship in a cooperative way outweighed the department’s interest and the public’s interest in pursuing this particular case,” Seth DuCharme, the acting U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, told the judge at a hearing.*

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-11...4b8bbc56366923

EL TERRERO, Mexico (AP) — In the birthplace of Mexico’s vigilante “self-defense” movement, a new group has emerged entirely made up of women, who carry assault rifles and post roadblocks to fend off what they say is a bloody incursion into the state of Michoacán by the violent Jalisco cartel.

Some of the four dozen women warriors are pregnant; some carry their small children to the barricades with them. The rural area is traversed by dirt roads, through which they fear Jalisco gunmen could penetrate at a time when the homicide rate in Michoacán has spiked to levels not seen since 2013.

----------


## Swordsmyth

Bullet casings still littered the ground on Friday in Coatepec Harinas, a  troubled municipality southwest of Mexico City where 13 police officers  on patrol were brutally murdered in an ambush by suspected drug gang  members.

Forensic  teams and dozens of heavily armed police and military officials gathered  at the cordoned off crime scene dotted with checkpoints after one of  the worst mass slayings of Mexican law enforcement officials in years.
Though  authorities say crime is widespread, residents were badly shaken by  Thursday’s violence. Some houses were strafed with bullets in the small  town nestled between verdant hills and corn fields, where most people  make a living cultivating crops.
The  attackers rounded up bodies of the fallen police officers into a pile  and continued to spray them with bullets, according to a local officer  at the scene on Friday.
“They finished them off,” said the officer, who declined to give his name. He had lost colleagues in the ambush, he said.
The  police convoy came under fire in broad daylight as it patrolled about  40 miles (64 km) south of the city of Toluca, in a zone where gangs  including the Familia Michoacana drug cartel are known to operate,  officials said.
The  area is in a region of the State of Mexico often hit by gangs from  Guerrero and Michoacan, adjoining states that have long been among the  most lawless in the country.

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-idUSKBN2BA2ZL

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## Pauls' Revere

> *The  police convoy came under fire in broad daylight* 
> 
> More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-idUSKBN2BA2ZL


I'm surprised the government hasn't nationalized the police force with the military. Then they can have a paradise like Venezuela.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> I'm surprised the government hasn't nationalized the police force with the military. Then they can have a paradise like Venezuela.


It will happen sooner or later and we will need to militarize our border and expel our leftists into the hellhole.

----------


## Pauls' Revere

https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-worrie...172436491.html

Mon, March 22, 2021, 10:24 AM
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials condemned the weekend killing of a would-be candidate for mayor in a small town in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Ivonne Gallegos Carreño was planning to run for mayor in the small town of Ocotlán de Morelos, Oaxaca before she was gunned down in her car on Saturday.

*Analysts said Monday 18 pre-candidates have been killed so far in the run-up to the June mid-term elections. They were killed before they opened formal campaigns.*

The consultancy firm Etellekt said in a report that killings have come mainly in violence-plagued states like Veracruz, on the Gulf coast, and Guerrero, on the Pacific. But isolated killings have occurred in a half-dozen other states.

While motives vary in cases that have been solved, politicians in Mexico face threats from drug cartels, political rivals and corrupt police.

Mexico's National Women's Institute said in a statement that “violence against women cannot be allowed or tolerated in a democratic system.”

----------


## Pauls' Revere

Well, I guess someone's got to "build back better".  You know, to do what Americans won't do. 

https://ijr.com/more-than-1-million-...ted-this-year/

More Than 1 Million Migrants Expected at US-Mexico Border This Year: US Official.

A top U.S. border official said on Tuesday he expects more than a million migrants will arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border this year, a sign of a growing humanitarian challenge for President Joe Biden on the southwest border.

If the figures reach 1 million, it could mirror a similar increase in border crossings in 2019 during Donald Trump’s presidency, when nearly 978,000 migrants were taken into custody.

Border Patrol arrested about 100,000 migrants in February, the most in a month since mid-2019. More migrants typically cross between April and June, Raul Ortiz, deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, told reporters.

“We’re already starting to see some higher days of 6,000-plus apprehensions,” Ortiz said. “So I fully expect our border patrol agents to encounter over a million people this year.”

The Biden administration allowed several reporters to interview border officials and tour a crowded migrant processing facility in Donna, Texas, on Tuesday following growing demands from news outlets for more access. The footage was shared with Reuters and other outlets.

The Donna facility is holding 4,100 migrants, most of whom are unaccompanied minors, according to a pool report, four times its pre-COVID capacity.

More than 2,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been held there for longer than a legal limit of 72 hours, Border Patrol official Oscar Escamilla said. Of those, 39 children had been stuck in the tent facility for more than 15 days as they await placement in a shelter overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

----------


## Swordsmyth

A massive fire erupted on Wednesday evening at an oil refinery operated by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) in the city of Minatitlan in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, reported Reuters. 

"Specialized staff of Pemex attends a fire in the transfer pump house of the Gral. Lázaro Cárdenas from Minatitlán," Pemex tweeted. 

Pemex went on to say that "seven were injured with minor injuries: a worker for burns and one for poisoning; and five firefighters who participated in controlling the incident." 

According to Mexican newspaper Reforma, the fire began around 5 pm and was "caused by a leak in the plant's charge pump."



Reforma continued: "the pumps have a mechanical seal that in this case failed and there was a leak, which caused the fire. The plant receives gasoline to produce benzene, toluene, and xylenes, products known as aromatics."



More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/commoditie...-seven-injured

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## Swordsmyth

A raging gun battle between rival Mexican drug gangs near the U.S. border left eight people dead and a string of burned-out armored trucks littering a roadway.

Residents of the northern border state of Tamaulipas said Monday the gun battles occurred Saturday and continued into Sunday in the hamlet of Santa Rosalia, located in the border township of Camargo. The residents asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

They said burned bodies were found lying in or near the burned out trucks, at least three of which had welded steel plates that served as improvised armor.

They said police and soldiers only ventured into the area in the daytime over the weekend, but that the cartel gunmen re-emerged at night to continue their battle.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the gun battle was between two rival gangs, and that “many people” had been killed in the confrontation. The area has long been disputed between the Northeast cartel, a remnant of the old Zetas gang, and the Gulf cartel.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/cartel-gun-ba...193544059.html

----------


## Pauls' Revere

*Mexico a failed State.*

I suspect that soon the President of Mexico will Nationalize the police.

*In Mexico, cartels are hunting down police at their homes*

https://www.startribune.com/in-mexic...mes/600062860/

MEXICO CITY — The notoriously violent Jalisco cartel has responded to Mexico's "hugs, not bullets" policy with a policy of its own: The cartel kidnapped several members of an elite police force in the state of Guanajuato, tortured them to obtain names and addresses of fellow officers and is now hunting down and killing police at their homes, on their days off, in front of their families.

It is a type of direct attack on officers seldom seen outside of the most gang-plagued nations of Central America and poses the most direct challenge yet to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's policy of avoiding violence and rejecting any war on the cartels.

But the cartel has already declared war on the government, aiming to eradicate an elite state force known as the Tactical Group which the gang accuses of treating its members unfairly.

"If you want war, you'll get a war. We have already shown that we know where you are. We are coming for all of you," reads a professionally printed banner signed by the cartel and hung on a building in Guanajuato in May.

"For each member of our firm (CJNG) that you arrest, we are going to kill two of your Tacticals, wherever they are, at their homes, in their patrol vehicles," the banner read, referring to the cartel by its Spanish initials.

Officials in Guanajuato — Mexico's most violent state, where Jalisco is fighting local gangs backed by the rival Sinaloa cartel — refused to comment on how many members of the elite group have been murdered so far.

But state police publicly acknowledged the latest case, an officer who was kidnapped from his home on Thursday, killed and his body dumped on a highway.

----------


## Swordsmyth

> *Mexico a failed State.*
> 
> I suspect that soon the President of Mexico will Nationalize the police.
> 
> *In Mexico, cartels are hunting down police at their homes*
> 
> https://www.startribune.com/in-mexic...mes/600062860/
> 
> MEXICO CITY — The notoriously violent Jalisco cartel has responded to Mexico's "hugs, not bullets" policy with a policy of its own: The cartel kidnapped several members of an elite police force in the state of Guanajuato, tortured them to obtain names and addresses of fellow officers and is now hunting down and killing police at their homes, on their days off, in front of their families.
> ...


You must spread some reputation around...............

----------


## Swordsmyth

Drug cartels such as the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, have upgraded their arsenals with an elite special forces unit, according to atlas.news. 

CJNG released a video of their "Grupo Elite" otherwise known as special forces team, "outfitted with signal jammers and heavily modified rifles," said atlas.news. The video also shows the unit in what appears to be a bulletproof vehicle. 

CJNG released the video (watch here) on the prospects of expanding their control into Naucalpan de Juárez, a city located just northwest of Mexico City in the neighboring State of Mexico. They appear to be threatening local drug lord Nestor Arturo Lopez Arellano, otherwise known as "El 20."

In the video, a Sicario says, "Citizens of Naucalpan. We are already here for one sole objective. And that's for all the cheap and dirty scumbags, the sons of bitches who are collecting fees, and extorting. You're charging a tariff with citizens who work honestly. As well with public transportation workers. This message goes out to you Nestor Arturo Lopez Arellano."

He continued his saying, "We're going to be stationed here in Naucalpan. Regardless of where you choose to run away. We will be right behind you. Because you made the mistake of getting involved with the monster of numerous heads. We respect citizens who work for society. We respect the authorities who do their jobs honestly. But the policemen who are on your side. That have sold themselves out for a miserable sum of money," adding that "They've sold out to stop protecting the honest workers of society. We haven't come here to extort anyone. Much less to keep this $#@!ing drug corridor. We've all come here to take you out. So that the citizens of Naucalpan can be allowed to work without worries." - atlas.news

CJNG — which is known for kidnappings, torture, and murders across Mexico and the US, has been blamed for the fentanyl crisis. 

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...g-rival-cartel

----------


## Pauls' Revere

> Drug cartels such as the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, have upgraded their arsenals with an elite special forces unit, according to atlas.news. 
> 
> CJNG released a video of their "Grupo Elite" otherwise known as special forces team, "outfitted with signal jammers and heavily modified rifles," said atlas.news. The video also shows the unit in what appears to be a bulletproof vehicle. 
> 
> CJNG released the video (watch here) on the prospects of expanding their control into Naucalpan de Juárez, a city located just northwest of Mexico City in the neighboring State of Mexico. They appear to be threatening local drug lord Nestor Arturo Lopez Arellano, otherwise known as "El 20."
> 
> In the video, a Sicario says, "Citizens of Naucalpan. We are already here for one sole objective. And that's for all the cheap and dirty scumbags, the sons of bitches who are collecting fees, and extorting. You're charging a tariff with citizens who work honestly. As well with public transportation workers. This message goes out to you Nestor Arturo Lopez Arellano."
> 
> He continued his saying, "We're going to be stationed here in Naucalpan. Regardless of where you choose to run away. We will be right behind you. Because you made the mistake of getting involved with the monster of numerous heads. We respect citizens who work for society. We respect the authorities who do their jobs honestly. But the policemen who are on your side. That have sold themselves out for a miserable sum of money," adding that "They've sold out to stop protecting the honest workers of society. We haven't come here to extort anyone. Much less to keep this $#@!ing drug corridor. We've all come here to take you out. So that the citizens of Naucalpan can be allowed to work without worries." - atlas.news
> ...


You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Swordsmyth again.

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## Swordsmyth

*Mexico vigilante group abducts 21, burns homes in raid on town, officials say* *‘El Machete’ was searching for alleged criminals, according to reports*https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexico-vigilante-group-abducts-21-raid

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## Swordsmyth

*Pirates Plague Mexico’s Offshore Oil Platforms*https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Pirates-Plague-Mexicos-Offshore-Oil-Platforms.html

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## Pauls' Revere

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-me...23e439dc2d4c5d

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities on Thursday discovered 10 bodies — nine of them hanging from an overpass — in the central state of Zacatecas, the scene of a battle for territory among drug cartels.

The Zacatecas state public safety agency said in a statement the bodies were found in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, about 340 miles (550 kilometers) north of Mexico city. The 10th body was found on the pavement. All of the victims were men.

The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels have been battling for control in the state, which is a key transit point for drugs, especially the powerful synthetic pain killer fentanyl, moving north to the U.S. border.

Cartels sometimes make such public displays of bodies to taunt their rivals or authorities and terrify local residents.

In the first nine months of the year, Mexico had more than 25,000 murders, a number 3.4% less than the same period a year earlier, according to federal data.

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## Swordsmyth

Two Mexican cardinals, a bishop, and three priests have been convicted of constitutional violations for warning the public against the ruling party’s opposition to the values of human life and family, their advocacy of the LGBT agenda, and their promotion of socialism.

The convictions have caused alarm in Mexico regarding their implications for freedom of speech and the right to criticize the socialist ruling party “Morena,” which is accused of undermining Mexican civil liberties.

Among the convicted were the Cardinal Archbishop of Mexico City, Carlos Aguiar Retes, and the former archbishop of Guadalajara, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez. The decision was handed down on November 18 by Mexico’s national Electoral Tribunal in response to a lawsuit filed by Mexico’s ruling socialist party, the Movement for Social Regeneration (MORENA).

One of the tribunal judges, Villafuerte Coello, denounced the accused clerics for encouraging Catholics “to pray and ask God to illuminate them when they vote,” in a video transmission of her statements during the proceedings.

“Of course that mustn’t be permitted,” said Cuello. “Votes aren’t celestial or spiritual things. This is about deciding votes with knowledge, with information, apart from pondering other things and this is just what must be respected, because celestial inspiration is not going to cause the best people to be in popularly elected positions. It’s logical.”

“Those who issued the messages are people who are expressly prohibited from doing so by the constitution, given their status as ministers of religious worship,” stated the tribunal in its written decision. “Therefore, because they have relevant influence over those who profess the Catholic faith, they were impeded from stating their position with respect to the elections, as well as from inciting people to vote in favor or against a political organization or candidate involved in the election.”

“Unconstitutional” criticism

The primary target of the tribunal’s wrath was Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, who was convicted both of interfering in a national election as well as violating the constitution’s separation of Church and state.

According to the court, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez offended the constitution by stating, in a YouTube video of June 2 of this year, “There is much at stake in these elections. If those who are in power win, a dictatorship will come, that is, liberty will be lost, because we’re talking about a system that is communist, socialist, that enslaves. You just need to look at the countries that have fallen into it.” He also warned that the economy of Mexico would be “very damaged . . . we’re going to be very poor like Venezuela, like Cuba.”

Sandoval also expressed his concern that “the good of the family and of [human] life are at stake, because this government has adopted gender ideology, which brings with it all of the unnatural barbarities that they can unleash, which can impede and destroy the family,” as well as bringing about “abortion, express divorce, homosexuality, and homosexual marriage.” Also at stake was “religious liberty,” said the cardinal, because “the communist-Marxist system asks for it, demands it.”

To avoid these outcomes, Sandoval encouraged the “majority in Mexico that believes in God and in his providence, to pray much for Him to enlighten and help us,” to ask Our Lady of Guadalupe for her aid, and to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also encouraged Mexicans to “do their civic duty” and vote, and not “leave the field free to evildoers.”

Sandoval has refused to apologize for his statements and doubled down in early October, repeating his call not to vote for pro-abortion politicians.

Although Cardinal Aguiar Retes told the court that he did not intend to specify any political party, and noted that he had not made any statement about the elections in 2021, he was was convicted for statements he made in a public video message in 2018, which was re-published on Twitter in 2021.

“Today I want to give you a very clear message, to continue inviting the Catholic faithful to express our will by voting,” said Aguiar Retes several months prior to the elections that year. “Second, to vote in a rational way, investigating which candidate can govern us better, particularly which candidate can guarantee to us that the fundamental values of our faith, like the right to life, the right to a stable family, the right to education, the right to religious liberty, can be made a reality . . . Third, that we make our vote a completely free one, that we don’t allow ourselves to be influenced by polls.”

Among the convicted were also the Bishop of Cancún-Chetumal, Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas, and two priests: Fr. Ángel Espinosa de los Monteros Gómez Haro and Fr. Mario Ángel Flores Ramos. The latter is the former rector of the Pontifical University of Mexico.

Elizono Cárdenas named no party in his statements, only noting that “the Catholic Church has always condemned communism, because it is an atheist system, because it is a system that represses fundamental liberties,” and encouraged people to consider the effects of their votes on issues such as abortion, family values, and religious liberty.

Fr. Flores Ramos gave a long list of complaints about the existing government but without naming names nor political parties. Fr. Gómez Haro encouraged listeners to “ask God for the light to vote in a responsible way,” and asserted that “we never had such a bad government – not one vote, not one vote for irresponsible people, for the culture of death and division.”

Their case has now been passed to the country’s Secretariat of Governance to determine the penalty that will be applied. The Secretariat has the discretion to apply merely a warning or a fine up to the equivalent of 150,000 USD.

Mexico’s constitution has had expressly anti-clerical provisions since 1917, when revolutionaries under US-backed leader Venustiano Carranza sought to consolidate the country’s secularist and anti-Catholic regime with a new charter document. The 1917 constitution prohibited the clergy from wearing their garb in public, voting in elections, intervening in politics, and teaching pre-adolescent children.

Although various restrictions on the activities of religious ministers were relaxed in the early 1990s, the constitution continues to prohibit them from holding public office and from participation in politics. Religions can only erect churches after being registered with the federal government.

“Ministers cannot associate for political purposes nor proselytize in favor or against any candidate, party, or political association,” states article 130 of the constitution. “Neither can they oppose the laws of the country or its institutions, in acts of worship or of religious propaganda, nor in publications of a religious nature, nor offend national symbols in any way.”

Previous attempts to penalize Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez for expressing his political opinions have failed on at least two occasions in the last decade.

More at: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/...st-government/

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s president said Wednesday he will create a state-owned company to mine lithium and appeared to suggest he will seek to cancel one of the few existing permits held by a Chinese company.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had said in October that he wants to declare lithium a “strategic mineral” and reserve future exploration and mining to the government. Lithium is a key component of batteries.

It hadn’t been clear if he would rely on private companies to do the work, which Mexico has no experience in. But López Obrador said Wednesday that a newly created government company will do the mining and processing.

The president also said a private lithium mine in the northern state of Sonora that involves a Chinese company would not be allowed to start production.

“What they want to do is to continue looting and that is over. We are going to take legal steps,” López Obrador said.

Asked specifically if that meant the mine would be blocked from operating, López Obrador said, “Lithium is going to be mined by the government.”

That operation, Bacanora Lithium, is Mexico’s only viable private lithium mine, and had been expected to start production in 2023. It is currently owned by Chinese lithium giant Ganfeng International.

More at: https://apnews.com/article/business-...e8110caee5e323

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## pcosmar

There is a Freedom Convoy in Mexico.

Canadian Flags south of the Border.

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## Swordsmyth

Mexico’s president has begun exploring plans to sidestep congress to hand formal control of the National Guard to the army, a move that could extend the military’s control over policing in a country with high levels of violence.

That has raised concerns because President Andrés Manuel López Obrador won approval for creating the force in 2019 by pledging in the constitution that it would be under nominal civilian control and that the army would be off the streets by 2024.

Neither the National Guard nor the military have been able to lower the insecurity in the country, however. This past week, drug cartels staged widespread arson and shooting attacks, terrifying civilians in three main northwest cities in a bold challenge to the state. On Saturday, authorities sent 300 army special forces and 50 National Guard members to the border city of Tijuana.

Still, López Obrador wants to keep soldiers involved in policing, and remove civilian control over the National Guard, whose officers and commanders are mostly soldiers, with military training and pay grades.

But the president no longer has the votes in congress to amend the constitution and has suggested he may try to do it as a regulatory change with a simple majority in congress or by an executive order and see if the courts will uphold that.

López Obrador warned Friday against politicizing the issue, saying the military is needed to fight Mexico’s violent drug cartels. But then he immediately politicized it himself.

“A constitutional reform would be ideal, but we have to look for ways, because they (the opposition) instead of helping us, are blocking us, there is an intent to prevent us from doing anything,” López Obrador said.

The two main opposition parties also had a different positions when they were in power. They supported the army in public safety roles during their respective administrations beginning in 2006 and 2012.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-presid...130328698.html

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## Pauls' Revere

Mexico is done.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-ca...35fb411c1e1a81

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has begun exploring plans to sidestep congress to hand formal control of the National Guard to the army, a move that could extend the military’s control over policing in a country with high levels of violence.

That has raised concerns because President Andrés Manuel López Obrador won approval for creating the force in 2019 by pledging in the constitution that it would be under nominal civilian control and that the army would be off the streets by 2024.

Neither the National Guard nor the military have been able to lower the insecurity in the country, however. This past week, drug cartels staged widespread arson and shooting attacks, terrifying civilians in three main northwest cities in a bold challenge to the state. On Saturday, authorities sent 300 army special forces and 50 National Guard members to the border city of Tijuana.

Still, López Obrador wants to keep soldiers involved in policing, and remove civilian control over the National Guard, whose officers and commanders are mostly soldiers, with military training and pay grades.

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## Swordsmyth

*Mexican state security chief is among the five dead in helicopter crash*https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/ameri...ntl/index.html

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