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,
Read more
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
Read more
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.
Read more
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
Read more
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
Read more
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
Read more
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,
Read more
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
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO Ominous Holiday Warning After expert epidemiologists forecast an ominous surge of covid-19 infections for January, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) issued a public call on Friday, Dec. 4, for people to avoid attending traditional holiday “posadas” gatherings, which usually begin in mid-December and run through Christmas Eve, and to stay home as much as possible
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO Alfonso Romo Quits Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) chief of staff for the past two years, entrepreneur Alfonso Romo, turned in his resignation on Wednesday, Dec. 2. Speaking during his morning press conference on Thursday, Dec. 3, AMLO that Romo “will continue to be my liaison with the business sector.” “The truth is that he
Read more