By RICARDO CASTILLO Wind and Solar Energy Thwarted The publication in the Mexican government’s Official Gazette on Friday, May 15, of a change in federal electricity policies, titled the Policy of Trustworthiness, Security, Continuity and Quality in the National Electricity System has irked many a foreign corporation that has invested in renewable electricity. Mexican Energy (Sener) Secretary Rocío Nahle has
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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 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 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 USMCA to Take Effect July 1 The trilateral trade treaty known in the United States as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), in México as the T-MEC, and in Canada by the same old term as the previous accord, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), will most definitely go into effect on July 1. The announcement was
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The cancellation of the Constellation Brands brewery construction in Mexicali has so many political and economic offshoots that they are impossible to cover in one journalistic article. But here are some of them: The people of Mexicali voted against the brewery not because they do not want foreign investment in their region, but because the Constellation Brands
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By RICARDO CASTILLO There was really very little to discuss on Sunday, July 21, during the just-over-an-hour-long meeting in Mexico City between visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. It was clear previous to the meet that Mexico had achieved the goals demanded of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)by U.S. President Donald
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The question of what to do with the thousands of Central American migrants passing through Mexico still remains unanswered. So far, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has opted to follow the same erratic policy begun by his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, only to see the flux of migrants grow exponentially. The point being now that
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