By RICARDO CASTILLO Red Alert for Three Kings’ Day There could be no more powerful image over the Christmas and New Year holidays than the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) doctors working out of covid-laden patient wards telling everyone, “We don’t want to see you here. Please, stay home.” Their pleas, however, fell on deaf ears. On Tuesday, Jan. 5,
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By RICARDO CASTILLO AMLO’s New Year Message The prospects for 2021 are looking good in the eyes of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) as the nation’s treasury starts the new decade with a 65 billion peso surplus, thanks to stiff collections practices that have “wealthy tax evaders” climbing the walls. To be clear, that does not mean
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By RICARDO CASTILLO It seemed like two years ago, back in December 2018, that then-new Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) had partially paved the rocky road that would lead to minimum wage hikes for 2019. At that time, AMLO managed to achieve a tripartite agreement among business organizations, unions and the new Labor Secretariat consensus regarding the hike.
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Mexican political parties are scrambling to find women who can be candidates in the June 6, 2021 midterm elections. The rush during this year-end week is due to the fact that Mexico’s Electoral Tribunal has set Wednesday, Dec. 30, as the final deadline to register candidates. Though the search has been on for months, it should not
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The last brawl in this legislative year in the Mexican Congress was over the so-called “Monreal Bill” that was stuck in the middle of a verbal debate and its vote postponed until February. The bill is also known as the “Bank of Mexico,” or “Banxico Bill,” and it has already passed with leeway at the Senate, and
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By KELIN DILLON Considerable controversy has arisen in Mexico over the Senate’s approval of reforms to the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), known as the Monreal Law, named after Senator Ricardo Monreal, who drafted the bill. Now, Secretary of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) Arturo Herrera Gutiérrez has announced a postponement of these reforms until February 2021. “Clearly, very important implications
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Banxico Law Postponement The Mexican Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, Dec. 15, announced it was postponing the debate on the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) Bill approved last week by the Senate until February. Deputies Chamber President Laura Rojas made the announcement on social media after the majority National Regeneration Movement (Morena) insisted on discussing and voting on
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By RICARDO CASTILLO No Lupe-Reyes Reveling The good news is that on Friday, Dec. 11, Mexico approved the Pfizer-BioNTech labs covid vaccine and will soon begin administering it to health workers and the nation’s most vulnerable. But while this may mean light at the end of the tunnel, for Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe (Lupe) worshipers, it did not come soon
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By RICARDO CASTILLO New Dollar Revenues Law The Mexican Senate approved a bill on Wednesday, Dec. 9, stipulating that all foreign currencies income flowing into Mexico should stay in the nation and not be allowed to be repatriated to the country of its origin. The board of directors of Mexico’s central bank, Banco de Mexico (Banxico), immediately challenged the bill,
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By RICARDO CASTILLO AMLO Reshuffles his Queens The reshuffling of women in the Mexican presidential cabinet that was announced on Monday, Dec. 7, may not be to the liking of many, but the dice have already rolled and the shots stand. The problem with the five reappointed women in the cabinet of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is not
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