By RICARDO CASTILLO Partial National Shutdown As of Monday, March 30, Mexico officially entered into a month-long economic standstill to prevent close contact among citizens in order to avoid the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The announcement of the partial national shutdown, which will last through April 30, was made by members of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO)
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By RICARDO CASTILLO That old proverb “don’t do good things that look bad” couldn’t be more timely for Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) regarding his outing on the March 28 weekend. AMLO went to Baja California to visit two main cities. Tijuana and Mexicali, and then moved on to the state of Sinaloa, spending time in the capital
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Private Hospital Expropriations Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) published an executive order on Friday, March 27, awarding the federal government the right to “make use of all medical sectors, public, social and private, in the regions affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.” In short, private hospitals may be privatized for pandemic use only. The decree, published
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Mexico-U.S. Border Shut for Nonessentials U.S. President Donald Trump perhaps was not precise enough when he announced on Friday, March 20, that with the agreement of the Mexican government, he was “closing the border” as of midnight. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency had to come to the immediate rescue with a press release clarifying the
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The Return of the Swaps The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) struck a deal with eight national central banks, including the Banco de México (Banxico), to back up dollar-denominated loans in global markets in an attempt to stabilize the exchange market, now under stiff pressure from the Covid19 pandemic. Banxico issued a press release explaining: “The swap mechanism
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Early Vacations Due to the imminent threat of a Covid-19 contagion, Mexico’s Public Education Secretariat (SEP) opted for stopping classes altogether for two weeks as of Friday, March 20. The two weeks will link up with the upcoming two week Easter vacation, slated to start on April 4. Classes will restart on April 20, providing for a
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Coverage Stops Peso, Oil Skids The Mexican government took several emergency measures to contain the downslide of the peso against the U.S. dollar over the weekend. The peso that got wobbled with a jaw punch but did not hit the canvas. It just showed shaky knees. Both the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) and the Treasury Secretariat
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Covid-19, Imported From Italy Mexican Public Health Undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell informed the public on Sunday, March 1, that there are now five confirmed cases of Covid-19 (also known as novel coronavirus), plus 11 suspected cases. Hence, he said, the nation is not in a state of emergency. López-Gatell said that the outbreak of the virus in Mexico
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The INE Registration Rush Is On The registration of new organizations that want to become Mexican political parties that claim to have complied with all stipulations made by the National Electoral Institute (INE) began over the weekend. The first to file the request was came last Friday, Feb. 21, the Solidarity Encounter Party (PES), on Friday, Feb.
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By RICARDO CASTILLO 69 New Barracks for National Guardsmen Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) spent the weekend inaugurating new barracks for the National Guard in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán and Guanajuato, the latter two known for a high presence of organized criminal gangs. Mexican Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said each barrack will house somewhere between 120 and
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