By RICARDO CASTILLO

Chihuahua Governor Seeks Martyrdom

In the past two weeks, National Action Party (PAN) Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral has staged two major publicity stunts: First he led a group of 10 state governors to splinter from the National Governors’ Conference (Conago), and then, Immediately afterwards, he permitted a group of farmers to take the federally managed and National Guard-protected Conchos River La Boquilla water reservoir facilities.

In both cases, he made national news headlines.

On the invading attack at La Boquilla, the National Guard abandoned the dam’s gate to avoid confrontation.

The farmers who took over the dam vandalized the facility, causing, according to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), 100 million pesos in damages.

The protesting farmers burnt the dam’s control panels, spreading slow-burning diesel fuel over them.

The Interior Secretary in now preparing to charge the farmers with destruction of federal property with “political mutiny, sabotage and sedition.”

All this commotion, said veteran politician and Federal Deputy Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, was political showbiz.

“What Javier really needs to do is to captain the PAN group of governors and pull over those from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at the cost of a rupture of Chihuahua  with the federation,” Muñoz Ledo said.

 

“He is about to play the role of martyr and create the image of a martyr state, Chihuahua overwhelmed by the federal government.”

About Corral leading 10 other governors to abandon eave the Conago, Muñoz Ledo said: “It makes no sense. He does not understand — or refuses to understand — that Conago is not an organism for dialogue with the government, but one for dialogue among state governments. He has intentionally fragmented it to assume a natural leadership at the PAN. What he is doing is a smart, but very dangerous, move.”

And regarding the occupation of La Boquilla, Muñoz Ledo blamed Corral for “being a provocateur in order to then blame the federation.”

“Deep down, he wants to be the true boss at the PAN, wielding an anti-AMLO flag,” the 87-year-old deputy said.

On the same issue, the National Front to Stop AMLO (FRENA) announced it is supporting the La Boquilla protesters while the National Guard continues to deploy agents near the reservoir.

CDMX Still Orange

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the risk traffic light for covid-19 contagion will continue to be orange, or high risk, for yet another week, from Monday, Sept. 14, through Sunday, Sept. 20.

Mexico City has been one of the hubs of the highest rates of covid-19 infections, and Sheinbaum has encouraged residents to wear masks, practice safe-distancing and avoid large congregations in order to stem the pandemic’s spread.

As of Monday, Sept. 14, Mexico will for the first time since the government’s covid-19 risk traffic light system was introduced, have no states classified as red, or maximum risk.

Starting Monday, Mexico will have eight yellow or medium-risk states and 24 orange states.

Guadalajara Subway

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on Saturday Sept. 11, spoke about the 32 billion-peso government-financed suburban Tren Ligero (Light Train).

The president was joined by Jalisco Governor and frequent AMLO critic Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, who, for a change, showed gratitude to AMLO  for having financed the subway to conclusion.

Regarding Alfaro’s usual criticism of the president, AMLO said, “Those who don’t understand criticism, do not understand democracy.”

Pushed by reporters on his usual disagreements with the president, who was standing in front of him, Alfaro just said, “This is not the day to talk about that.”

Toluca Train Chugs Forward

The electric aerodynamic train between Mexico City and Toluca is back on track after it was left unfinished by the former President Enrique Peña Nieto administration.

The 90 billion-peso project will link up at the Observatorio metro station with other Mexico City transport lines.

The 30 five-car-each trains are expected to carry an average of 230,000 passengers per day. The trip will last 39 minutes.

The train is expected to eliminate thousands of motor vehicles from the Mexico City-Toluca highway, stopping the flow of nearly 28,000 tons of smog into the air each year.

Zócalo Closed

For the first time since 1847, when the United States invaded Mexico City in a war to gain the country’s northern territories (now New Mexico, Arizona and California), Mexico City’s main square, the Zócalo, will be empty for the Sept. 15 and 16 Independence Day festivities.

The Mexico City government announced that the closure would begin on Monday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m., and would last through Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 2 p.m.

The traditional military parade has been foregone given the pandemic.

The only act at the Zócalo will be on Sept. 16 at noon, when health officials will pay homage to the hundreds of Mexican doctors and nurses that have died attending to coronavirus  patients.

Vaccine Announcement

Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said he was “sure” that he would be able to announce in November the starting date for a massive anti-covid-19 vaccination campaign.

“That is going to happen, no doubt about it,” Ebrard said. He did not, however, specify where the vaccines would come from.

Morelos Electricity Plant

AMLO announced that the controversial Huexca, Morelos, thermoelectric plant will be inaugurated in December.

The problem of protests over syphoning water from the nearby Cuautla River was solved with the construction of a sewage water recycling plant in the town of Cuautla, near the Popocatépetl volcano, he said.

Regarding the 20 billion-peso plant, AMLO said: “From the start of this administration it was said that it would not become a junk pile, as so many other unfinished public works in which tax money was invested have been, abandoned and left standing still. We have inherited many of these plants and there will be no unfinished works when this administration comes to an end, We are going to comply.”

Banxico to Sell Dollars

The Mexico Exchange Commission announced Friday, Sept. 11, that it will hold two dollar auctions for a total of $7.5 billion as part of a series of financial measures taken to reduce the economic fallout of the covid-19 crisis.

The first auction will be for $5 billion on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and the second will be held on Monday, Sept. 21, for $2.5 billion.

Both auctions will have an 84-day maturity period.

Mexico’s Central bank, Banco de Mexico (Banxico), is using special funds from a $60 billion swap loan from the U.S. Federal Reserve to finance the auction.

…Sept. 14, 2020