By RICARDO CASTILLO

The People’s Priority

The outcome of the private summit between Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and the country’s 32 governors on Wednesday, Aug. 19,  was twofold in focus, covering both taxation and health.

held a press conference with the National Governors’ Conference (Conago), hosted by San Luis Potosí Governor José Manuel Carreras, after the four-hour meeting.

Sánchez Cordero said that AMLO proposed the organization of a National Treasury Convention so that the treasury secretaries of every state and the national Hacienda treasury could come up with an alternative tax redistribution system, since many governors claimed they were unhappy with the existing one.

The convention should be held before Mexico’s congress presents the 2021 budget on Nov. 15.

The other issue discussed was the growing covid-19 pandemic and the way it is hitting both state governments and the Mexican people’s pocket in a very direct manner.

Sánchez Cordero said there is deep concern in the administration over the way the pandemic is wreaking havoc and painful mourning among Mexican families, but, she said, for most people, “the main concern is not contagion, but their economic situation, getting back to work and to pay for daily needs. That is the Mexican people’s top priority.”

Campeche Goes Yellow

The Yucatan state of Campeche became the first state in the nation to go yellow as of this week in the government’s coronavirus pandemic safety scale.

The rest of Mexico is either orange or red.

But even in yellow, Campeche is maintaining the standard of advising people to wear mouth covers and practice intensified hygiene habits to prevent a new covid-19 surge.

Rewriting the Conquest

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) began a special lectures on Thursday, Aug. 20, on “new visions” over what INAH researchers call the conquest of Tenochtitlán (Mexico City) and the Cemanahuac, the city basin at large.

´During the upcoming sessions (slated for Sept. 14 and Oct. 19 ), the scholars will analyze the configurations of ancient local societies that allowed the Spaniard conquistador Hernán Cortés tp create alliances to defeat the Mexica, or Aztec, civilization.

The program, called the Second Colloquium of the Anthropological Vision of the Conquest of Cemanáhuac, is a preamble to discussions of the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, which happened on Aug. 13, 1521.

Discussions are based on the alliances Cortés made with the people of Tlaxcala, Zempoala, Cholula and other native communities in those days at odds with the Aztecs and who formed a 100,000 warrior army, led by 500 Spaniards, to invade Mexico City.

The colloquiums and historical lectures are being held at the Anthropology Museum.

Ancira Gets Amparo, Maybe

Immediately after a Tapachula, Chiapas, federal judge issued a writ of habeas corpus protection (amparo) for Alonso Ancira, currently under house arrest and on extradition trial in Spain, Mexico’s Fiscal General of the Republic (FGR) issued a statement stating that it will challenge the writ.

Ancira faces charges of money laundering on the sale to the state-run oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) of fertilizer plant Agro Nitrogenados, for which former Pemex Director Emilio Lozoya Austin is also being charged with fraud against the nation, as the plant was sold at an alleged overprice of more than $200 million.

AMLO commented that the FGR will not forgive Alonso, “unless he gives back the overcharged $200 million.”

The case of the amparo moved to a collegiate tribunal for analysis.

In the meantime, it cannot be enforced and Ancira’s situation remains unchanged.

Videgaray, AMLO on Lozoya

Former Treasury and Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray on Thursday, Aug. 20, published his side of the accusations against him in the 63-page document released by the Fiscal General of the Republic on the charges made by former Pemex director Emilio Lozoya Austin.

Videgaray stated his case in three different points: 1) The multiple accusations Lozoya makes against me are false. Besides, they are absurd, inconsistent and reckless.

2) The accusations Lozoya makes are invented lies in which he tries to justify himself through the consequences of his own deeds. The only one responsible for the painful legal situation he, his mother, his sister and his wife are passing through has but one name: Emilio Lozoya.

3) It does not come as a surprise that now Lozoya tries to blame others to save himself. It is an attitude that corresponds to his personality. It also does not come as a surprise that he attempts to blame me for his own misdeeds. Since those years, it has been widely known that we had a bad personal relationship, which was the result of his mismanagement of Pemex, of what he wanted to make out of the Energy Reform and his conduct as a public official.

Videgaray added, “I am ready to hear the call from the competent authority and contribute to clearing up what is true.”

On the 63-page text, AMLO commented: “I didn’t finish reading it because it is 63 pages long and it was getting late at night. Also, I didn’t want to have nightmares over what I was reading, because yes, it is scandalous.”

…Aug. 21, 2020