By RICARDO CASTILLO The Return of the Swaps The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) struck a deal with eight national central banks, including the Banco de México (Banxico), to back up dollar-denominated loans in global markets in an attempt to stabilize the exchange market, now under stiff pressure from the Covid19 pandemic. Banxico issued a press release explaining: “The swap mechanism
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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 Early Vacations Due to the imminent threat of a Covid-19 contagion, Mexico’s Public Education Secretariat (SEP) opted for stopping classes altogether for two weeks as of Friday, March 20. The two weeks will link up with the upcoming two week Easter vacation, slated to start on April 4. Classes will restart on April 20, providing for a
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Weathering a Perfect Storm Over the past few days, representatives of all o Mexico’s major banks have held separate press conferences previous to the annual Mexico Banks Association Convention, now being held in Acapulco. Each of the interviewed representatives showed acceptance for the policies of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). This is an indicator that
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By RICARDO CASTILLO At a still-short distance, the two days of woman power demonstrations witnessed last weekend are difficult to define. What was it? A protest? A demand for being accepted as women, without the branding of sex objects Mexican machos tag them with? To put a stop to sex/requesting pickup lines like “mooa mooa mamacita” macho males constantly harass
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Coverage Stops Peso, Oil Skids The Mexican government took several emergency measures to contain the downslide of the peso against the U.S. dollar over the weekend. The peso that got wobbled with a jaw punch but did not hit the canvas. It just showed shaky knees. Both the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) and the Treasury Secretariat
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The Mexican Senate draft of the new labor subcontracting or outsourcing bill project bill has undergone some major changes so far. It’s also been the subject of deep divisions among senators, some wanting to go the radical route and others obeying lobbying efforts from both foreign and national companies that have so far gotten their way in
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Two Women’s Days It’s not amazing, given the nature of the brutality of some Mexican machos, to be witnessing the enormous support the two days of protest by Mexican women is getting just about from everywhere. You name it, social groups, universities, government secretariats (like Education, no classes on Monday, March 9) and entrepreneurial groups have all
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By RICARDO CASTILLO A Divided Women’s Movement On the eve of Mexico’s March 9 feminist work stoppage by all the women who want to participate, the cadre of invisible “collectives” have been joined by an apparent “fifth column,” the anti-abortionists, who now claim that this movement “underrates” women. (In military terminology, a fifth column is an infiltration of enemy troops
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