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 Mothers and Doctors The Mexican Public Health Secretariat, the National Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the National Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) reported that the 9,600 female doctors on call due to the covid-19 spent Sunday, May 10, Mother’s Day, on duty. The report was made by the nongovernmental organization Mom Doctors,
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Pandemic Traffic Lights On Monday, May 11, the federal government will hold an analytical meeting to establish, perhaps as early as Sunday, May 17, what Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) called “a sort of traffic light” to start reopening the nation’s economy back to business as usual. AMLO said that municipalities where there are no
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By RICARDO CASTILLO This is an article I should have written many years ago, but, at the time, I did not have enough reason to do so. Not until now, when it just so happens that in the natural calendar year of 2020, the second Sunday in May falls on May 10. That, of course, is this coming Sunday. What
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Jacobson’s Hearsay Interview Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson probably regrets giving an interview to reporter J. Jesús Esquivel that ran on Sunday, May 3, in Mexico’s weekly magazine Proceso. Esquivel mangled the information so badly that Jacobson had to send a set of tweets to claim that she didn’t say what Esquivel said she said.
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Don’t Whine Later! The programmed meeting of the Permanent Committee of the Mexican Congress to discuss the revamping of the administration’s Expenditures Bill has been postponed for at least two weeks due to the expanding coronavirus pandemic. Chamber of Deputies Majority Leader Mario Delgado Carrillo said that he had talked over the phone with Senate President Mónica
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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 Mexican Beaches Closed for Easter Mexican marines and municipal police have full control of Acapulco beaches to impede tourists from doing what they do best every Easter weekend: Enjoy their vacations. Guerrero Governor Hector Astudillo held a press conference on Tuesday, April 7, to “acknowledge the efforts being made by the persons participating in actions to keep
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XINHUA Mexico’s exports grew by 3.2 percent year-on-year in January, thanks in large part to the manufacturing and petroleum industries, the National Institute of Geography and Statistic (Inegi) announced, Friday, Feb. 28. The Inegi stated in its report that the value of Mexican exports reached over $33.6 billion in the first month of the year, with almost $31.3 billion corresponding
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Mexican Army Grooves to Music and Dance The Mexican Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) took a two-day-long recess to commemorate the 107th anniversary of its foundation on Feb. 19, 1913. The celebration began on the night of Tuesday, Feb. 18, with the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) Symphony and Choir delivered a spectacular concert, mostly for officers,
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