Mexico News Roundup
By RICARDO CASTILLO
Three Executives Resign on AMLO
After three women government executives resigned their posts on Friday, June 19, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) retorted: “All those who are not in agreement with the Fourth Transformation should consider resigning too.”
AMLO also questioned the existence of some organizations that “sprouted like mushrooms” in past administrations, and now are a burden to the extremely battered federal government budget.
The noisiest of the resignation was that of Mónica Maccise Duayhe, head of the 17-year old National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination (Conapred).
Maccise had programmed a panel for Tuesday, June 16, called “Racism and/or Classism in Mexico.” in which she invited YouTuber comedian and frequent AMLO critic Chumel Torres. among other guests.
The chat was cancelled, but Maccise presented her resignation of Friday.
AMLO then called for the elimination of Conapred as an expensive organization, like many other watchdog organizations within the government structure.
In his critique, AMLO did not focus on Conapred alone, but on about 100 institutes and councils, including the National Electoral Institute (INE), which he deemed the most expensive elections organizing body in the world. The transformation or disappearances of these entities remains to be analyzed.
The second key resignation came from Mara Gómez Pérez of the Executive Commission for the Attention to Victims (CEAV).
Gómez Pérez’s formal resignation is still on hold since she was appointed by the Senate, and not by the Interior Secretariat. Hence, Gómez Pérez has resigned in word only, but has not turned in a written document to that effect.
Still, a group of indigenous women protested outside the National Palace on Friday, June 19, and AMLO said that “people who are related to victims are demanding the resignation.” He went on to say that an indigenous woman should run CEAV. The blond-haired Mara Gómez is of European descent.
AMLO also confirmed the resignation of Health Undersecretary for Integration and Development Asa Ebba Christina Laurell, who did turn in her resignation, claiming she had “irreconcilable differences” with Mexico’s covid-19 czar Hugo López-Gatell and Public Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer.
Laurell served as the Federal District (Mexico City) health secretary when AMLO was mayor. Her resignation was effective immediately.
The three resignations are bound to continue making media noise, not so much due to the resigning women but because AMLO wants to rid the government of what he considered “these costly organizations.”
Another Lady in Distress
Public Function Secretary (SPF) Irma Erénderira Sandoval staunchly denied recent media claims that she had received real estate “gifts or donations.” and warned “I will not allow media hitmen to tarnish my name and that of my family.”
The “hitman” to whom Sandoval was referring was Carlos Loret de Mola, who has openly declared war on AMLO and his cabinet.
Loret de Mola published an article that said that Sandoval had received a 253-square-meter piece of property in southern Mexico City.
Loret de Mola, who also has a bone to pick with Sandoval’s husband, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) law professor and American expat John Ackerman, said that in the last nine years the couple has obtained five more properties.
“Accusations by this hitman are totally false,” Sandoval said.
Unholy Alliance
National Regeneration Movement (Morena) Pro Tempore President Alfonso Ramírez Cuellar announced that he had struck an alliance with the Labor Party (PT) and the Green Party (PVEM) to name joint candidacies in next year’s midterm elections.
“The objective of this union is to show absolute backing to the president and uphold our support of the transformations going on in the nation.” Ramírez Cuellar said.
“It is also intended as a response to the campaign stemming out of entrepreneurial organizations and opposition parties, which may compromise some institutions in Mexico.”
Shootout in Guanajuato
Saturday, June 20, turned out to be perhaps the most violent day of the year in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, as Army soldiers, National Guardsmen and State police went on the offensive against the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.
The cartel had made the city of Celaya its center of operations, but when attacked in Celaya by a long convoy and helicopter patrols, the government forces forced the bandits into a defensive position.
As a response to the government’s attack, cartel members went on a destructive rampage, burning at least 21 privately owned vehicles in at least 13 neighboring municipalities.
The only town spared was San Miguel de Allende, where the municipal police staged a blockade to impede the fleeing cartel members from entering the city.
At the end of the fray, police arrested 26 members of the cartel, both men and women, who had set aflame a furniture store, a convenience store, two filling stations and two supermarkets, the state government’s press office reported.
Cartel leader or the Sledgehammer, posted a video on social media complaining that his best people had been arrested “and I’ve been left alone like a (expletive) dog.”
His gang had taken up residence in farms surrounding Celaya.
The Peso Floats
Last week was neither good nor bad for the Mexican peso parity against the U.S. dollar.
The peso maintained its conversion ration between 22 and 23 to the greenback.
On Friday, June 19, it closed at 22.72 to the dollar.
Tentative Election Dates
Mexico’s National Electoral Institute announced that the local government elections in the states of Coahuila and Hidalgo are tentatively programmed either for Aug, 30, or Sept. 6 or 20.
Defining a date, the INE said, has been difficult due to the fact that the covid-19 pandemic curve is not yet flattened in Mexico.
However, the INE did confirm the kickoff for preparations for the June 20, 2021, midterm elections, in which the Chamber of Deputies and at least 1,900 municipal authorities be renewed or reelected, had ben advanced to the first week of September.
Sports: Live Boxing Returns
World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight champion Emanuel “Cowboy” Navarrete demolished Uriel “Yuca” López in six rounds in a card by Zanfer Promotions and aired live on its regular Saturday night boxing program.
The three-fight card held behind closed doors at the television station facilities in southern Mexico City had only television crews and announcers present.
The 10-round main event, though a mismatch, had good ratings, which had fallen over the last few months because TVAzteca had been broadcasting reruns of old fights.
…June 22, 2020