By RICARDO CASTILLO Unemployment: Mexico’s New Nightmare Over 555,000 Mexican workers lost their jobs in April alone. Those who lost jobs in May are not yet counted in a report issued on Tuesday, May 12, by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). The bulk of the lost jobs, according to the IMSS, was in manufacturing, including high-employment maquiladoras, auto industries and
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Financial desperation and back-to-work decision-making just as Mexico enters what is expected to be the peak of its covid-19 pandemic are definitely poorly timed. But then, that’s the reality the Mexican government is facing today. As of Tuesday, May 12, Mexico’s National Health Council announced the approval of four agreements for a progressive lifting of stay-at-home measures
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Pressure to Restart Work Pressure on the Mexican government to get the economy going again is mounting from all sides. Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer, who is responsible for determining which municipalities and industries can reopen, however, does not yet have an answer. “In general there are approximately 990 municipalities applying to restart, but only about a third
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Budget Change Controversy Harsh times demand harsh measures, and this week Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) sent a bill to the Chamber of Deputies proposing to rearrange the government’s budget to meet the inevitable health and financial crisis looming for the nation. AMLO’s adversaries, through the non-governmental organization México Evalúa (Evaluates) has claimed that the
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The good news is that thus far in these coronavirus adventurous times, Mexico has registered only about 120 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 syndrome, and only one death. But in the eyes of Mexican Public Health Undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell, now the official government spokesman on the pandemic, the ordeal is just getting started and the projected worse
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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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By RICARDO CASTILLO The Real Border Wall at Guatemala While Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard has consistently rejected the idea that there is a crisis at Mexico’s Guatemalan border, new caravans of various sizes continue to arrive there, looking to cross through Mexico to the United States. Their crossing, however, is being impeded by the armed Mexican National Guardsmen,
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By RICARDO CASTILLO … A quick review of the most important news items in Mexico over the last few days…
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By EARL ANTHONY WAYNE, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico
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