By RICARDO CASTILLO

Vaccines Registration Underway, Sort of…

As of Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Mexican government has opened up its Natonal Vaccination Program of covid-19 vaccines to everyone over the age of 60, allowing those eligible to register on a webpage run by the Interior Secretariat (SeGob).

In theory, everyone in Mexico over age 60 — including legal foreign residents — has have the right to receive a free anti-covid vaccinartion, the federal government’s coordinator for digital strategy Carlos Emiliano Calderón said.

The only requisite to qualify for the vaccine is to have a Unique Code of Population Registration Number (CURP, or Clave Unica de Registro de Población, in Spanish), issued through the Segob’s Population Register (Renapo) office.

Notwithstanding, though registration began Tuesday, the page was immediately overwhelmed by demand, crashing repeatedly.

Calderón said that the vaccinations will be carried out as soon as manufacturing laboratories deliver the vaccines.

Those registered will be contacted by phone or email as to the time and place where they will get the vaccinations.

Sánchez Cordero Defends Light Bill

Interior Secretary (SeGob) Olga Sánchez Cordero, during the Wednesday, Feb. 3, press conference at the National Palace, who has been standing in for Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) while he recovers from covid-19, said the president’s proposed Electricity Bill sent to the Chamber of Deputieslast weekend is intended to recover the state’s rectorship over basic services.

The proposed bill, which is expected to pass Congress (dominated by members of AMLO’s leftist National Regeneration Movement, or Morena, party) with no serious opposition, met with harsh rebutes from the private sector on allegations that it constitutes an “indirect expropriation” of investments made by private companies.

But Sánchez Cordero said that made the bill does not attempt to exclude private investors, but rather to establish clear regulations and participation limitations.

She added that it is up to Congress to decide what terms the final draft will specify.

Mining Taxation

The tax income from mining companies operating in Mexico dropped by 49 percent during 2020, the Taxation Administration Service (SAT) reported Monday, Feb. 1.

The SAT said that it collected a little over 235 billion pesos last year, down from 461.7 billion during 2019.

According to the National Mining Chamber, this sector represents one of the largest taxpayers for the nation and operate in 10 percent of the nation’s territory.

Former Puebla Governor Arrested

Former Puebla State Governor Mario Marín was arrested by Attorney General (FGR) agents in Acapulco on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Marín is charged with ordering the kidnapping and torture of muckraking journalist Lydia Cacho, who in 2007 published a book called “The Demons of Eden,” denouncing a prostitution ring in Cancún specializing in abducting young women.

In a radio interview on Thursday, Feb. 4, Cacho said she wanted to see Marín sentenced to jail “for at least 20 years,” not just for her kidnapping by Puebla state police agents in Cancun, but also for his alleged cover up of the prostitution ring supposedly headed by Succar Kuri and Kamel Nacif, both charged with human trafficking.

Cacho said she received a phone call from Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero notifying her of Marín’s arrest in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Marín was previously tried for violating Cacho’s human rights, and the case was heard at the Supreme Court, where the majority of the judges declared Marín innocent.

Zavala Is a Candidate Again

Former Mexican First Lady Margarita Zavala will run for federal deputy under a National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) coalition banner.

Zavala is the wife of former President Felipe Calderón, and she tried to run for president in the 2018 election and later, along with her husband, tried to form a new party in 2020.

But Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) did not accept the request to form that party on the grounds that it had allegedly received funding for questionable sources.

Now, Zavala will be running for Mexico City District 10 located in the upscale Miguel Hidalgo municipality.

“I shall be the alliance’s candidate for deputy because the June 6 election is the last call to defend the democratic transition and finish off populism,” she said Thursday, Feb. 4, in a radio interview.

Zavala said she accepted the candidacy because “the nation needs an opposition majority in Congress if it seeks to put an end “to the spiraling amount of authoritarian decisions López Obrador has made.”

…Feb. 5, 2021