By RICARDO CASTILLO AMLO and Corral Trade Verbal Punches On Friday, Sept. 18, Mexican Security Undersecretary Ricardo Mejía Berdeja named eight well-to-do Chihuahua farming families that he accused of “hoarding” 35 million cubic meters of Rio Conchos water, representing a full 12.5 percent of the water that is owed to the United States. One person alone, Mejía Berdeja said, is
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Debt Restructuring Plan The Mexican Treasury and the National Banking and Stocks Commission (CNBV) launched a national debt relief package to help borrowers and banks alike during the covid-19 pandemic-provoked economic crisis. The plan includes a downsizing of the agreed-upon interest rate and reduces the monthly amount borrowers are currently paying. All news arrangement will have to
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS The political clock is ticking, and Mexico now has just weeks to make more than a year’s worth of water payments to the United States in compliance with a 1944 bilateral treaty. But while Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has repeated said in his morning press conferences that the country will meet the Oct. 24
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Economic Skid Two of the basic economic indicators, demand and supply, plunged down by 19.4 percent in comparison to the same period last year, according to a quarterly report from the Mexican government official pollster, the National Institute of Geography and Statistic (Inegi). The figures reflect statistics both for home and industry, which had been stable since
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By RICARDO CASTILLO As hundreds of Texas farmers along the Rio Grande border are feeling jittery about the water owed to them by Mexico, the brawl at the very source of the tensions, La Boquilla reservoir in Chihuahua, continues to grow. The expected flow of what the Texans consider to be their water is being stalled on the Mexican side
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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
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Wet Politicking in Dry Chihuahua There was a faceoff this week between farmers and the National Guard (GN) at the La Boquilla reservoir on the Conchos River, which feeds into the Rio Grande at the Ojinaga-Presidio border. The GN, in charge of safekeeping the dam, had to withdraw from the facility on Tuesday, Sept. 8, to avoid
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Cleavage at Conago Ten Mexican governors met Monday, Sept. 7, in the northern city of Chihuahua. The purpose of their gathering was to vote on whether to continue to participate in the National Governors Commission (Conago), an organization that aims to be one voice before the president. The outcome of the meeting was that all10 voted to
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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF The U.S. State Department lowered its travel advisory for Mexico from a Level 4 (red, do not travel) to a Level 3 (orange, reconsider travel) on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The new, downgraded advisory specifically warns U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel to Mexico due to covid-19,” and to “exercise increased caution in Mexico due to
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS Along the Rio Grande River in Texas, the covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic slowdown are major concerns, but not nearly as worrying for local farmers as the impending water crisis. The Rio Grande farmers produce nearly $500 million in foodstuffs each year, making the Rio Grande Valley (technically, it is not a valley, but a sprawling
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